The Seventh Year
by SmallTownRebel
Summary: Marauder's seventh year...expect strange things. Rated for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** _If you recognise it, it's not mine...if you don't, it's likely mine!_

_This story will cover mostly only the seventh year of Lily, James, Sirius, Remus etc, and my extra characters. I will try to stick to the storyline of JK Rowling as much as possible, but I'm not an expert in Marauder Lore, so if I mess up, bear with me! And I would appreciate it if you would let me know, also, so I can fix it!

* * *

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**C****hapter 1: Another Year**

The small, blonde girl stood on the platform, gazing at the train. It was her last time, her last "first day". She turned to her friend, Alice, who was standing beside her with her boyfriend.

"Well, this is it."

The girl nodded, and turned back to the train. "Yep. This is it."

"How do you feel?"

"Feel?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "Come on, Khyana! How do you feel, knowing you're not going to be returning to Hogwarts again, that this is your last time?"

Khyana shrugged. "I'm indifferent really. I mean, sure it's a little scary to think that in a year I won't have any more school, but I mean…it's not really any different from right now, right? I don't have a home now, so it's not like I'm thinking 'Oh my gosh, I won't have somewhere to live!'"

"That's true," Alice agreed, nodding. "But it's still a little scary, isn't it? I mean, _I_ won't have a place to live."

"You can live with me, love."

Alice smiled up at Frank, and Khyana groaned. They were going to get all lovey-dovey, and she was _not_ in the mood…EVER!

She walked away from the two of them, and entered the train, finding herself an empty compartment to plunk herself down in, and sat near the window, looking out at the far side of the platform. Her life had taken such a turn in the past few weeks, but she felt strangely free. No more pureblood mania crap from her family, no more strict rules and hiding her friendships with Lily and Alice…

"Hey, Khyana."

She sighed and looked up. She was _not_ in the mood to be social.

"Lily."

"How was your summer?"

Khyana looked back out the window.

"It was…interesting." she said finally. "Yours?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. What made yours so interesting?"

"I ran away." Khyana replied.

Lily's jaw dropped. "You _what_?"

"I ran away. Merlin, Lily, you don't need to look so shocked! You should have been expecting this."

"Well yeah, but…Merlin, Khyana! When?"

"The day after Sara did."

Lily's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Sara ran away, too?"

The blonde nodded. "The day before I did."

Lily rolled her eyes. "That could be safely assumed, Khyana."

Khyana smiled.

"When did the two of you run away? Where did you stay? _Why_ did you run away?"

Khyana sighed. "It's a long story."

"We've got a long train ride."

* * *

The brown haired girl hurried over to her friends, eager to be away from her lifestyle of the past few weeks. The hiding out, the frequent running, it wasn't her style. Even though she had done it with one of her closest friends, it didn't seem right. It was…awkward, to be out of a home, to have no where permanent to rest her head. She felt like a prophet of old, her pillow a stone.

She and Khyana had agreed that it would be better if they didn't arrive at the platform together, in case either of their families were there. Of course, Khyana's family had no reason to be there, as they had no younger children, but her younger sister and brother were both still at Hogwarts, and she did not want a scene.

Consequently, she arrived at the last minute, scrambling to get her things onto the train before it pulled out of the station.

"Sara, you'd better hurry!" Alice called from the door of the train, and Sara grabbed her hand, hauling her trunk onto the train just as it started to move.

"That was close, Sara." Lily said from the compartment door.

"Yeah, well, I made it, didn't I? And no sign of my mother or the Brats. Excellent."

Lily pursed her lips, looking very much like the Head Girl she was. "You shouldn't talk so about your younger siblings, Sara."

Sara shrugged, and heaved her trunk into the compartment, squishing Lily against the doorframe.

"Lily, don't you have some sort of Head Girl duty to be attending to?" Alice asked, as soon as everyone was settled.

"Oh sh…oot!" Lily exclaimed, jumping up. "I'll be back, guys, okay? And then I want to hear Khyana and Sara's stories."

Khyana sighed and rolled her eyes. "I told her I'd only tell her once you two were here, so we'd only have to tell it once."

"Good idea." Sara agreed, nodding.

"Hey, has anyone heard who the Head Boy is?" Alice asked suddenly. "I meant to ask when Lily was still here."

"Nope, haven't heard," Khyana replied, shaking her head, her long blonde Malfoy trademark hair swinging as she did so.

"Me either, I haven't really been in contact with anyone over the summer," Sara replied.

"Well, _I_ could tell you, if you ask nicely," a deep voice said from the door.

Khyana groaned and rolled her eyes, and without even looking at the door, said, "Sod off, Black."

Sirius Black laughed. "Now, now, Miss Malfoy. Be nice."

"Go away, Black, we're not in the mood for your attitude," Alice said, opening a magazine and ignoring the three boys in the doorway.

"We have our own," Sara added, rummaging through her school bag for something or other.

Sirius' face turned serious, as he said, "Khyana, Sara, I heard rumours this summer from Andi that you two ran away from home."

"Your point?" Khyana asked rudely, pulling out a quill and parchment from her bag.

"Why?"

"Mind your own business, Black," Sara said angrily.

"Padfoot, leave them alone." A slightly higher, kinder voice said softly.

Khyana would have smiled gratefully at Remus, but didn't want to look up at Black for fear she might hex his face off.

"We just came to answer your question," Remus added.

"What question?" Alice asked, perplexed, looking up from her magazine.

"About who the Head Boy is. It's James."

All three girls dropped whatever they were holding and gaped at the three boys in the doorway.

"James? James Potter?"

"How many other James's do you know, Miss Malfoy?" Sirius asked sarcastically, although his facial expression was strangely triumphant.

"How on earth did James Potter get the Head Boyship?" Sara asked incredulously. "He might as well have given it to you, Black!"

"I am utterly insulted by that, Miss Wilkes. I would _never_ agree to be Head Boy!"

"Didn't I tell you three to sod off already?" Khyana asked, getting angry. "Go away."

Sirius shook his head sadly. "So unappreciated. Very well, we shall leave you ladies to your own devices."

"Finally!" Khyana said, as the three boys took their leave.

The three girls sat in silence for a few moments, before the door of their compartment opened again, and Khyana breathed heavily.

"We said sod off, Black!"

"Who?"

All three girls looked up, surprised, at the soft, girl's voice that had spoken.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else," Khyana said apologetically.

"Someone named Black, I assume?" the redhead said, with a small grin.

Khyana nodded.

"I'm Khyana. Khyana Malfoy. This is Alice Thompson and Sara Wilkes."

"I'm Kelria. Kelria Song." The girl said, sitting in the empty seat beside Sara.

"Song? That's an interesting name." Sara commented.

"Yeah, I suppose. It's because-"

"Someone shoot me. Just shoot me now! You'll _never_ guess who the Head Boy is!"

Lily burst into the compartment, absolutely fuming.

"James Potter," Alice said passively, returning to her magazine.

Lily gaped at her. "You _knew_?! You _knew_, and you never told me?"

"Chill out, Lily. His mates were here, Remus told us."

Lily looked only slightly less perturbed as she flopped into her seat on the other side of Alice.

"Oh, I'm going to _die_, just die!"

"Chill out, Lily, you'll be fine, I'm sure."

"He's such an arrogant, conceited, horrid little…ugh!'

"Really, Lily, I'd think you could come up with something more original!" Khyana exclaimed. "'Conceited' and 'arrogant' are the same thing. So you're really just repeating yourself, saying them both."

Lily glared at her, and then noticed the tall, redhead sitting across from her.

"Oh, hello! Who are you?"

"Oh, where are my manners? Lily, this is Kelria. Kelria, Lily Evans, our most esteemed Head Girl." Alice said formally.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm a transfer student. I'm in my seventh year," Kelria said, offering the information as though someone had asked for it.

"Oh, that's cool. We're all in seventh year, too," Sara said with a smile.

"She would have guessed that, Sara, considering Lily's Head Girl." Khyana pointed out, rolling her eyes.

"Hello, ladies!"

The four Hogwarts veterans groaned.

"I thought we told you to leave us alone," Sara said angrily.

"You never told _me_ to leave you alone!" James Potter said extravagantly.

"It's an open demand," Khyana said. "To always leave us alone."

James and Sirius grinned. "You ladies are such fun, you know that?"

"We said sod off, Black, get lost," Alice said, uncharacteristically losing her temper.

"Who's this?" Sirius asked, noticing Kelria for the first time.

"Oh. Guys, this is Kelria. Kelria, the moron with the messy hair is Potter, the other black-haired idiot is Black, and the brown-haired one is Remus Lupin." Khyana said indifferently.

"And Peter!" Alice said indignantly, glaring at Khyana.

"Oh yeah, and the rat," Khyana finished with the same indifference, eliciting startled looks from all four boys.

Alice glared at Khyana, but she pretended not to notice.

"Pleased to meet you," Kelria said, inclining her head politely to each boy.

"Charmed, I'm sure," Sirius said, leaning over, grabbing her hand, and kissing it formally. "Sirius Black, at your service."

Kelria rolled her eyes, and Khyana decided in that moment that she truly liked the girl. Anyone who could roll their eyes at Black upon first meeting, was worth her time.

"James Potter," James said, nodding to her.

"Now that you've all met Kelria, you can leave," Sara said.

Sirius, of course, could not resist one more formal bow before leaving, but within a minute--assisted by furious threats from Khyana--Sirius and the others left the compartment.

As soon as they were gone, Alice started in on Khyana.

"Khyana, _how_ many times have I told you not to call Peter "the rat"?"

Khyana shrugged her off. "Even Black calls him that, Alice, and he is one!"

"You are not very nice, Khyana."

"I'm a Malfoy, what can I say?" Khyana grinned, winking at Kelria.

In truth, Khyana was barely listening to Alice at all. She was too busy thinking about Kelria. The girl had a mysterious air about her, to be sure. She would take some investigation, but Khyana had always loved a challenge… 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Confrontations and Unusual Results**

Lily had many duties to attend to that day, not the least of which was to organise the prefect rosters for patrolling the halls, and making sure the prefects stuck to their duties. Potter, of course, was no help at all in the matter, something Lily took in stride, and, to her credit, only complained about him four times over the course of the train ride, not including the one when she first found out he was Head Boy.

Upon returning from one such trip, Lily ran afoul of some Slytherins in the corridor, Slytherins who thought it might be fun to rile up the new Head Girl in preparation for the coming year.

"Well, well, well, mudblood Evans. And how are we today?"

Lily stiffened outside the compartment door, and Khyana and Sara wasted no time at all in going to her defence, wands drawn and faces set.

"Sod off, Lestrange, before I hex you into next week," Khyana said menacingly.

Rabastan Lestrange grinned evilly at her. "And here we have Blood-Traitor number one and Blood-Traitor number two."

Khyana and Sara both rolled their eyes.

"Unless you want a scene, Lestrange, I suggest you move." Sara said dangerously.

"Oh, but a scene is exactly what I want, Wilkes," Lestrange replied evenly.

His three cronies--Avery, Snape and Nott--guffawed.

"Problem, gents?"

The four Slytherins turned around, and found themselves face-to-face with four wands, pointed directly at their foreheads.

Khyana, Lily and Sara rolled their eyes. Lestrange's upper lip curled.

"Black, Potter, Lupin and Longbottom. What an…unpleasant…surprise," he said.

"You have five seconds to drop your wand and go back to your compartment, Lestrange," Sirius growled. "And I'm counting by twos."

None of the girls deigned to point out to him that five isn't reachable when counting by twos.

Lestrange's eyes glinted, and he seemed to weigh his chances.

Kelria, intrigued by the sounds from the corridor, chose that moment to stick her head out of the compartment, which seemed to be the major deciding factor for Lestrange. He snapped his head in a nod, and he and the others left, shoving past the girls and moving on down the corridor.

"What was that about?" Kelria asked.

"Nothing," Lily replied hurriedly. "It was just some Slytherins looking for a fight. It was nothing."

Knowing Lily didn't want a scene, Khyana and Sara wisely kept their mouths shut, but only until they got back into the compartment.

"Lily Evans, that was _not_ nothing!"

"It's fine, Sara, just leave it." Lily said firmly. "I don't want a scene."

"I'm going to hex Lestrange into next week when we get to school. No one will challenge me if I do it in the common room."

Lily shot Khyana one of her Head Girl Glares of Doom, and said, "No, Khyana, absolutely not! I cannot allow it."

Khyana was not without her own defences, however. She shot Lily her Slytherin Look of Utter Contempt, which not many people can see and continue in their argument. Lily decided it really wasn't worth getting into an argument about House politics with her friend, and instead turned to Kelria. Khyana grinned triumphantly.

"So, Kelria. You're a transfer student, you said?"

"That's right," Kelria agreed.

"From where?"

"Well, I went to Beauxbatons for four years, and I've spent the last two years at Durmstrang. However, I didn't really like it there, so I changed."

"Smart move," Alice conceded.

"That's really cool," Lily said. Then she rounded on Sara and Khyana. "Alright, you two, you've had your fun. Now tell me."

Sara and Khyana exchanged uneasy looks.

"Um…"

"You said you'd tell me when Sara got here," Lily pointed out.

Khyana sighed. "Oh, alright. Sara, you start."

"Me?!" Sara exclaimed. "Why me?"

"Because you started it!" Khyana replied evenly.

Sara rolled her eyes. "Alright, Sara, I'll tell me story, but then you have to."

Khyana glared at her. "_Don't_ call me Sara."

Sara grinned evilly, and Kelria looked hopelessly confused.

"I'm confused," she stated.

Khyana sighed again, and shot Sara a glare.

"My first name is Sara, but I don't use it, because that would be too confusing," she explained. "Khyana is my second name, so I just use that instead."

"Oh," Kelria said.

Lily cleared her throat in a most annoying way, and reminded Sara and Khyana about what they were supposed to be doing.

"Okay, okay!" Sara said, holding up her hands in surrender. "Alright, so we were at the Malfoy mansion, right? And we were having a party. And my parents decided it would be cool if I got engaged. That night. So, they started hooking me up with all these guys, and told me that if I didn't find someone to marry by the end of the night, I was going to be in big trouble. So I walked out."

Lily was struggling to suppress her laughter, and Kelria was even smiling.

"And so then, the next day, my parents decided that I wasn't allowed to see Sara anymore," Khyana picked up, "And I didn't much like that idea. So I walked out, too."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You're a complete, utter and total moron, Khyana."

"Thank you," Khyana grinned, performing a flourishing bow.

"So, then what happened?" Lily asked.

"Well, I met up with Sara at Alice's, and we stayed there for a few days…but then we decided we were intruding-"

"Which you totally weren't," Alice interrupted.

"-And we moved to the Leaky Cauldron," Khyana finished, ignoring Alice.

"And then…?"

"'And then' what? And then nothing! We moved into the Leaky Cauldron, c'est fini! C'est tout! The end!"

"That's it?" Lily repeated, confused. "That's a horrible ending, Khyana."

Khyana shrugged. "Oh well."

Alice was smirking, and Kelria was trying to hide her smile, as Sara said, "That's not the ending! What _really_ happened is that we had no money, so we got kicked out of the Leaky Cauldron, and had to travel around London like bums, and-"

"Sara, shut up!" Khyana said suddenly, noticing Lily's face. "You don't need to make it sound so horrible."

"That's _awful_, girls! Why didn't you come to my house?" Lily demanded.

Khyana and Sara both looked uncomfortable as Khyana said, "Trust me, Lily, you don't want us staying at your place. You don't need to be involved in this whole pureblood war thing; I don't want to drag your family into this. Alice's family is already involved. Trust me, you don't want us at your place."

There was a fairly awkward silence after this, during which no one looked at anyone else.

"I need to go for a walk," Khyana said finally, and left the compartment.

After she'd left, the other girls started a game of exploding snap, but it didn't last long, and they soon fell to quietly pursuing their own activities.

* * *

Khyana had no destination in mind as she walked down the corridor. She just knew she had to get away. It wasn't often that something happened to make her feel ashamed of her family; it usually happened when a group of Death Eaters or maniacs attacked an innocent muggle family, or something like that. However, just the thought of what Lily's family would endure if they sheltered her and Sara made her sick.

Khyana wasn't really watching where she was going, and consequently didn't see the something that was in her path.

"Whoa, Khyana, careful."

Khyana grinned feebly. "Sorry, Remus, I didn't see you."

"It's okay. Hey, are you alright?" he asked, concerned, as he saw her face.

"I'm fine."

Remus looked sceptical, but didn't press the matter, for which Khyana was grateful. He had had enough experience with Malfoys to know not to push his luck; though they were friends, she was still a Malfoy, and inclined to angry outbursts.

"Where are you going?" Khyana asked, and he blushed.

"Laura asked me to stop by, so I'm going to see her."

Khyana grinned. "How long have you been going out with Laura now?"

Remus shrugged. "I dunno, five months maybe."

Khyana cocked a brow teasingly. "You think?"

Remus blushed an even deeper red. "Five months."

Khyana laughed. "I'm just teasing, Remus, I don't care. And I'm certainly not going to tell Laura you don't know, if that's what you're worried about."

Remus grinned. "I'm not worried, Khyana. What about you and Cam?"

Khyana grinned. "Seven months next Tuesday."

"Congrats," Remus grinned. "Oh, and you might not want to go to the far compartment."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because Sirius, James and Peter are in there, and they're fighting…or playing exploding snap…I can't tell the difference."

Khyana laughed. "Alright, Remus, thank you for the warning. Have fun with Laura."

Remus left, and Khyana continued her journey down the corridor, until she came almost to the end. She remembered Remus' warning about the last compartment, and did an about-face to return to her friends, when she found her path blocked by five young Slytherins.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Malfoy traitor," a brown-haired boy sneered, and the others with him laughed.

"You're awfully cocky, Wilkes, to think you can take on a seventh year by yourselves," Khyana said off-handedly.

Sara's younger brother glared at her, and those with him growled.

"I'm not by myself, Malfoy."

Khyana rolled her eyes. "You're second years, Wilkes. There are three more seventh years in that far compartment, and if I called, they would come. They wouldn't be able to resist torturing mini Slytherins."

Wilkes' eyes fluttered quickly to the far compartment door, but his face gave nothing away.

"You're lying." He said finally.

"Would you like me to prove it?" she asked. "Potter and Black would be more than happy to come help me teach you a little lesson."

Khyana could only assume that Potter and Black's reputations preceded them, because Wilkes moved so fast back down to his compartment that Khyana barely saw him. She grinned, and continued back to the compartment.

* * *

The rest of the ride to Hogwarts seemed to fly by. The girls talked and laughed, the awkwardness from earlier forgotten. As they drew nearer to the school, the girls changed into their school robes, and Khyana and Sara fell strangely silent.

"Are you two okay?" Lily asked worriedly.

"Fine," Khyana replied.

"What's wrong?" Alice demanded.

Sara sighed. "Well, I don't know what's wrong with Khyana, but if I know her, it's the same thing that's bothering me. We're getting close to school."

"And that's a bad thing because…?" Lily asked.

"Because we're in Slytherin, Lily! We're blood-traitors, and we're in Slytherin!"

"Oh. Yeah."

"Yeah. We're going to have to ask for a separate dorm soon, I bet," Khyana said sadly.

"I don't understand," Kelria, who had been watching this exchange quietly, said.

Sara sighed. "We're purebloods, and our families are pureblood maniacs. We ran away, which means we're not part of our families anymore. The other Slytherins are not going to be happy about this. And they're going to try to hurt us, probably."

"Oh," Kelria replied, understanding finally.

"I'm sure you two will be fine. You can look after yourselves." Alice said, pulling on her cloak.

"Easy for you to say, Gryffindor," Khyana said dejectedly.

"Alright, ladies, stop feeling sorry for yourselves! You're the ones who ran away. You made that choice, and now you have to live with the consequences," Lily said.

"Thanks, Lily, your sympathy is heart-warming," Sara said sarcastically.

They didn't have time to say anything else, because the train pulled to a stop in Hogsmeade station just then, and they had to get off.

As they approached the carriages, a thought struck Khyana.

"What is Kelria supposed to do? Does she come up to the school with us, or what?"

"I dunno," Lily admitted. "I guess she could come with us, and we'll find McGonagall when we get there."

"Who's McGonagall?" Kelria asked.

"Deputy headmistress," Alice replied. "She's in charge of the first years and sorting and such things."

"Ah."

The five girls made their way to the carriages, talking some more.

When they got to the school, Professor McGonagall was waiting for them.

"Kelria Song?"

"Yes," Kelria replied, stepping forward.

"You will need to be Sorted, with the first years. This way, please."

"See you," Kelria said, following the professor away from the other girls.

"Well, ladies, this is it. I hope she's okay," Lily said worriedly.

"She'll be fine, Lily, you worry too much," Alice said, and the four friends entered the Great Hall together.

* * *

Kelria was nervous. None of the girls had told her what the Sorting Ceremony included, so she had no idea what to expect. However, she was a fairly accomplished witch, so she was pretty confident that whatever the school sent her way, she would be able to deal with it.

Professor McGonagall led her to a small corridor off the Great Hall, where a group of small, scared-looking first years was standing. At 5'6", Kelria towered over all of them, and felt very conspicuous.

"You will be Sorted first, Miss Song. I have already given the first-years their pep talk, so if you will please follow me."

Kelria followed Professor McGonagall, and the first-years followed her in little knots. She smirked. They were so little. This would be a very fun year…

As they entered the Great Hall, all the talking ceased. Kelria glanced around and quickly found the four girls she had sat with on the train. Khyana and Sara grinned at her from the Slytherin table, and Alice and Lily waved from their spots at the Gryffindor table.

Professor McGonagall placed an old, tattered hat on a stool, and everyone watched it. Kelria, confused, watched as well, until a rip near the brim opened, and the hat began to sing…

* * *

Khyana and Sara were watching the hat intently, but it was a façade. They weren't really listening to the hat at all. They were worrying. They had expressed their fears to Kelria, Alice and Lily on the train, but now they were really starting to sweat. The Slytherins were not at all welcoming to blood-traitors like themselves, even if the blood-traitors had been Slytherins for seven years. Now a new fear had settled in, as well. What on earth would happen if Kelria were sorted into Slytherin? They didn't want to think about it, but it was a possibility, and they needed to think about it. If Kelria were in Slytherin, there would be one more person to stick up for them, but also one more person for the others to ridicule. Khyana didn't like it.

To take her mind off it, she surveyed the Great Hall. Over at the Gryffindor table, Lily and Alice were watching the hat intently. Frank was sitting with his arm around Alice, and James was staring intently at Lily, nearly drooling. Sirius was seeing how close he could get his wand to James before James noticed he was trying to hex him.

At the Hufflepuff table, everyone was watching the hat, and every once in a while, their gazes would flick to Kelria and the first-years. They seemed to sense the danger in Kelria, and some looked worried.

At the Ravenclaw table, all the intellectuals were watching the hat, and nodding every once in a while at something it said, or whispering about it with their friends. One person, however, was not watching the hat. She shot her boyfriend a quick grin, and he smiled back, and continued to stare at her, making her feel a little uncomfortable. She knew he must have been worried about her when he heard that she'd run away…she would have to talk to him soon.

Finally, the hat finished its song, and Khyana paid attention as the Sorting began. Kelria was Sorted first, and as the hat sat on her head for several minutes, Khyana started to get even more worried. Sara grabbed her hand and held on tight. After nearly five minutes, the hat made its decision, and shouted out to the whole Hall:

"_Slytherin!_"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Hogsmeade**

Khyana and Sara clapped feebly as Kelria joined their table. They were not surprised, by any means, but were a little disappointed. They had hoped that she would be put in Gryffindor with Alice and Lily, where she wouldn't be in trouble. Apparently, the hat thought differently.

"Well, I guess we have a new roommate," Sara hissed, as Kelria made her way over to them.

"I guess we do," Khyana agreed.

The rest of the feast went off without a hitch, of course, as the Slytherins couldn't do anything with all the teachers watching. However, Khyana didn't expect the same thing to happen when they reached their dorm room.

It was, however, very convenient to have their housemates ignore them, as it gave them a chance to explain House politics and such to Kelria.

"Avoid anyone your age, except us," Sara said as the food started to appear.

"_Don't_ talk to any Blacks. Bellatrix is gone, lucky for you, she's the worst, but Narcissa and Regulus are still here. Narcissa isn't quite as bad as Bellatrix, but she's still pretty bad. Regulus is just an idiot. Narcissa and Bellatrix's sister, Andi, she's gone now, but she ran away, too, to marry a muggleborn, so they're not in a very good mood right now. That's the second wayward Black in two years."

"Second?" Kelria asked, taking a bite of chicken.

"Yeah, Sirius ran away last Christmas."

"Who's Sirius?"

"The idiot we introduced you to on the train."

"Oh, Black?" Kelria asked.

Khyana resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes, that's the one."

"You never told me his first name," Kelria reminded her. "Or Potter's."

"Oh. It's James. James Potter."

"So yeah, avoid Blacks, and anyone your own age…and avoid anyone else above fifth year, if you can help it. They're generally the worst."

"You're lucky you don't have to deal with my brother," Khyana said, shuddering. "He's the worst of the worst."

Sara nodded her agreement, and then turned back to Kelria to continue her training.

* * *

Lucky for the girls, that night the Slytherins were too tired to do much damage, but Khyana knew it would not last. The other girls in their dorm, Kieran Montague, Alexandra Yaxley and Colby Rosier, left them alone and the six girls got ready for bed in sleepy silence. Khyana fell asleep wondering what new surprises this year would bring…

* * *

The next morning, Khyana woke up before anyone else in her dorm, and quietly woke up Sara and Kelria so they wouldn't be around when the other three woke up. They quietly made their way down to the common room and out into the rest of the school. No one else was up yet, as it wasn't even seven o'clock, so they had the whole school to themselves, and Sara and Kelria decided they wanted to have a shower, so they headed off to the loo, leaving Khyana to wander alone.

It wasn't long, however, before she realised she was no longer alone. She didn't even have to look back to know who it was, and she grinned.

"You're up awfully early, aren't you?" she asked teasingly.

"So are you," the voice behind her replied.

She turned, and found herself wrapped in a strong embrace.

"I have to be," she replied, her voice muffled against Cam's chest. "Unless I want Colby, Alexandra and Kieran to get me."

Cam held her at arm's length and surveyed her closely, looking worried.

"I heard you and Sara ran away this summer. Why?"

Khyana pulled away, shrugging. "It was time," she replied.

Cam nodded to show he understood, then put his arm around her waist and began walking again.

In this fashion, they entered the Great Hall some time later, and separated to go their separate ways. Khyana made her way to the Slytherin table, where Sara and Kelria were already waiting.

Sara smirked, and Khyana whacked her over the head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

Khyana shrugged. "I'm a Slytherin, I don't need a reason."

Sara laughed, and Kelria looked confused.

"I don't understand."

Khyana shrugged again. "You will. Don't worry."

* * *

That first day of classes, Khyana, who was training to be an Auror, and Kelria, who wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do, had every class together. Sara, who was training to be a Healer, had Potions with the two girls, but where Khyana and Kelria had Transfiguration, Sara had a free period, and where Sara had Herbology, the other two had a free period. The other three periods were free periods for all of them, and were spent most agreeably in the library.

During the first period, which was a spare, the three girls fell to talking about Quidditch.

"Do you play, Kelria?" Sara asked eagerly.

Kelria nodded. "I'm a Beater."

"Excellent! We lost one of our Beaters last year, so I'll need to find a new one," Khyana said happily.

"You're on the team?" Kelria asked.

Khyana nodded. "I'm the Captain."

"Really?"

Khyana nodded. "This is my third year. The others aren't very happy, because most of our teams have consisted mostly of people who were extremely large, not necessarily those who had any talent. Since I've been Captain, I've only been allowing people on the team who actually have talent, so those who were on the team before I took over are pretty ticked that I don't let them on anymore."

"Khyana plays Chaser, she's amazing!" Sara explained. "I'm Keeper."

Khyana shrugged. "I'm actually not _that_ good. And Potter's Captaining Gryffindor's team, so they've been really hard to beat."

Sara laughed. "This year. This'll be the year we win against Potter."

Khyana rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Sara. Chances are, people aren't even going to want to play under me, because I'm a blood-traitor now."

Sara shrugged. "Who cares? The two of us can carry the team."

Khyana shook her head. "No, we can't. Potter's an amazing Seeker, and neither of us plays Seeker. They'd beat us every time."

Kelria cleared her throat. "I could play Seeker if pressed, although I do prefer Beating."

Khyana nodded. "Well, we'll see what we need."

* * *

The next period, Khyana and Kelria had Transfiguration. They made their way to McGonagall's classroom together, carrying their book bags and talking amiably. When they got there, however, Khyana's mood soured beyond all hope of lifting again.

"Malfoy!"

Khyana did not turn around, but ignored the voices behind her calling her name, and urged Kelria to do the same.

"If we ignore them, maybe we'll get lucky and they'll go away," she hissed.

Although Kelria towered over the 5'2" blonde, she nodded her agreement, and picked up her pace, so that Khyana was soon almost running to keep up with her.

"Khyana!"

When they reached the classroom, Khyana had to accept the inevitable: the boys behind her had not gone away. They were still there, and still annoying.

She turned finally, and faced the three boys, red-faced from running and out of breath.

James Potter, who was training to be an Auror, Sirius Black who didn't know nor care what he wanted to do, and Remus Lupin who was still deciding, all had Transfiguration with Khyana and Kelria, much to Khyana's annoyance.

"What do you want?" Khyana asked rudely as they waited for McGonagall to open the door.

"Well, we wanted you to wait and walk with us, but apparently it didn't work," Sirius panted.

"No, it didn't," Khyana agreed, smirking. "What on earth made you think I would want to walk with you?"

Sirius shrugged. "No reason. Just being polite."

Khyana rolled her eyes and turned away from them again. "Being polite my foot, Black, sod off."

As they entered the classroom, Khyana and Kelria managed to lose the boys, and found seats with Alice and Lily near the middle of the classroom. The boys found spots at the back, where they could wreck as much havoc as possible without McGonagall noticing. As Lily and Alice reached the two girls, Lily rolled her eyes at something over Khyana's shoulder, and the blonde could only assume it was James, trying some new tactic to gain Lily's affections.

"Honestly, that boy just doesn't know when to give up," she sighed, annoyed, proving Khyana's assumption correct.

"Just ignore him, Lil," Alice said, shoving Lily into the seat in front of Khyana and sitting down in front of Kelria herself.

That first class was spent talking about NEWT tests…or rather, McGonagall talking, and the class either listening or pretending to. In the case of the three--or at least two--boys at the back, they were pretending to listen, and throwing things at the back of Khyana's head when McGonagall wasn't looking. Her temper passed boiling point, and only Kelria's whispered "ignore them, Khyana," kept the girl from blowing up right there in class.

* * *

Potions was spent in much the same manner as Transfiguration, except that the boys now had Lily, Alice and Sara to pester as well, since they shared a table. This time, it was Lily hissing "ignore them," and Sara actually lost her temper and threw a hex at Sirius. Sirius, Sara and James all wound up with detention, because Professor Slughorn saw Sirius and James throw a quill at Sara's head, and also saw Sara's retaliation.

"You should have just ignored them, Sara," Lily said, as they were walking to the library after Potions.

Sara shrugged. "I don't mind detention. And I'm glad I actually hit Black. That was so funny."

Khyana managed to hide her laugh by quickly turning it into a cough, but couldn't hide her smirk. It had indeed been highly amusing to see Black's reaction when Sara's curse had hit him, and he had found his legs jumping about of their own accord. And detention was nothing. Khyana and Sara got detention all the time, much to Lily's dismay.

* * *

Over the next few weeks of school, Kelria managed to fit in nicely with Khyana, Sara, Lily and Alice. Khyana was the only one of their little group with a boyfriend, but she spent so little time with him it was like he didn't exist at all. Kelria was grateful to them all for accepting her. She was sure she could have managed to gain acceptance from the other seventh year Slytherins if she'd had to, but she much preferred spending as little time with them as possible.

She sat with Khyana and Sara at meals, and wandered the halls with them in the morning when they woke up, and spent all her breaks with Khyana and sometimes Sara in the library.

Quidditch tryouts were held the third weekend of school (Khyana had had to talk with James about when they were going to do it, and James had already arranged for the second weekend), and Kelria had made it on the team as a Beater, so she also had Quidditch practises two or three times a week. Khyana and Sara were, of course, on the team as well, and they had managed to find a Seeker who actually had quite a bit of talent. Donovan Higgs was a very talented Seeker--though, as Khyana pointed out, not as talented as Potter--and Khyana was sure he could at least get them through the season.

The homework Kelria was getting was almost overwhelming. Khyana and Sara assured her it had been the same in their fifth year, when the teachers were preparing them for their OWLs.

"But NEWTs are ages away!" Kelria complained.

Khyana nodded. "I know. But the teachers seem to think we need to do the work now."

Consequently, September and October flew by in a haze of hiding from Slytherins, homework and Quidditch.

The last weekend in October, Hallowe'en, was the first Hogsmeade visit of the year, and the school was buzzing with excitement as the first visit approached. Kelria had never been, and was planning on Khyana, Sara and their Gryffindor friends to help her out, and show her around.

"Of course we will!" Khyana assured her. "Alice will probably be off with Frank, but Lily, Sara and I will definitely hang out with you."

"Don't you have a boyfriend that you want to hang out with, too, Khyana?" Kelria asked.

Khyana shrugged. "We don't generally do the whole "going to Hogsmeade together" thing, we just spend time together on our own. We're not big on being all public about our emotions."

From what Kelria understood of old pureblood families, Khyana's phobia of emotions was ingrained in her from her birth. Kelria wondered whether Khyana's boyfriend agreed with her statement or not, but didn't know Khyana well enough to ask.

* * *

The Saturday of the visit dawned bright and clear, and everyone was in a good mood. Kelria actually got to sleep in, because even Kieran, Colby and Alexandra were in good moods--a rare occurrence.

After a quick breakfast, Khyana, Kelria and Sara met Lily, Alice and Frank in the Entrance Hall, and made their way together to Hogsmeade.

As Khyana had predicted, Alice spent most of the day with Frank, but the other four were not deterred in the least. They made their rounds, going by Honeydukes, and the robe and quill shops, before stopping in at the Three Broomsticks for a very late lunch, around 3.

The Three Broomsticks was absolutely packed with people, mostly students. Kelria saw people she knew from some of her classes, and others that she knew were in her year, but hadn't spoken to. Some of them came over and said hi to Lily or Khyana or Sara, and they always introduced them to Kelria, who soon got tired of smiling for them all and making polite small-talk.

After a while, the flow of people coming to talk died down, and the four girls set to talking.

"So, Khyana, how are things going with Cam?" Lily asked.

Khyana grinned. "What kind of question is that, Lily? If things were going badly, you know I would have told you."

Lily shrugged and nodded, but pressed her anyway, until Khyana gave in with a sigh.

"We don't see each other all that often anymore, because of school work and stuff, but we make do. We see each other in Charms, and sometimes in the library during a break period. And sometimes I see him in the morning, before classes start."

Lily made an action that was halfway between a shrug and a nod, to show she understood what Khyana was talking about.

"But you're still going out with him?"

"Of course," Khyana replied, looking surprised, and Lily shrugged.

"Well, you never know. Black's still trying pretty hard."

Khyana choked on her Butterbeer, and Kelria looked over at Lily, surprised.

"Lily Michelle Evans!" Khyana gasped. "I cannot believe you!"

Lily shrugged again. "Well, it's true. Whether you want him to or not, Sirius Black has a major crush on you, Khyana Alayan."

Khyana, looking furious, stood up, pushing back her chair, and stalked out of the pub.

"Maybe that wasn't the best thing to say, Lily," Sara said, watching Khyana's retreating back warily.

Lily took a swig of butterbeer. "Well, she needed to be told. It's true."

"Maybe," Sara allowed, "But that probably wasn't the best time or the best way to tell her so."

Kelria looked down at her half empty bottle of butterbeer, not feeling in the mood to drink it anymore. Her first visit to Hogsmeade had been ruined, and she felt a certain sense of disappointment about it; she had really been looking forward to this day.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Hallowe'en**

Khyana, furious with Lily, made her way angrily back up to the castle alone, not even heeding where she was going, nor caring. The nerve of Lily, honestly! She couldn't believe her! When she reached the castle, she went immediately to the library, to sit in peace and think. She didn't get much peace, however, because her "sitting and thinking" was very rudely interrupted by a young, brunet male entering and interrogating her.

"So, Khyana."

"So, Remus."

Remus sat down beside, looking like he wanted to talk about something, but changed his mind when he saw her face.

"What's wrong?"

Khyana considered her options. Remus was a good friend, but he was Black's best mate, and if she told him what was bothering her, chances are, it'd get back to Black that she was asking…she decided to take her chances.

"If I tell, will you promise not to tell anyone?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "That's so juvenile, Khyana."

"You have to promise." Khyana said firmly.

Remus sighed. "I promise not to tell, unless it in some way will affect the emotional wellbeing of one of my friends."

Khyana sighed. That was what she had been expecting.

"I was talking to Lily today…"

"Big surprise there," Remus said. "Go on."

"And she said something about Black liking me."

"Yes. And?"

Khyana pounded the table with her fist. "And, I don't like that! Why on earth would Black like me? I'm so not his type, and I can't stand him!"

Remus hid his smile behind his hand. "How would you know what Sirius' "type" is, Khyana?"

Khyana rolled her eyes. "I know who he's "dated" over the course of his seven years here, Remus. They're all ditsy, stupid preps. I'm so not."

Remus nodded his agreement. "No, that you are not," he allowed.

"So then," Khyana said, pressing him. "Why does he like me?"

Remus sighed. "I don't even know, Khyana. I don't think _Sirius_ knows. I just know he does."

Khyana groaned. "I hate this. But what did you want to talk about?" she asked, changing the subject none too gracefully.

Remus shrugged. "It's not important."

Khyana put her hands on her hips, looking imposing even though she was sitting.

"If you go out of your way to come talk to me, it's obviously important, Remus."

Remus sighed. "You're friends with Laura, right?"

Khyana shrugged. "We talk, yes."

"Will you talk to her for me?"

Khyana looked surprised. "Sure, Remus. What about?"

Remus looked a little uncomfortable. "I don't think things are going so good."

Khyana raised a brow. "You don't _think_?"

Remus shook his head. "We've been having a lot of arguments lately, over really stupid things! And…I think she likes someone else."

Khyana looked thoughtful. "Who do you think she likes?"

Remus looked even more uncomfortable. "I think she likes Cam."

Khyana's head shot up. "Cam? As in, Cam Jones, my Cam?"

Remus nodded. "Yeah, your Cam."

Khyana looked thoughtful again. "I can see that. Come to think of it, I think he might like her, too."

Remus shrugged. "I wouldn't know, honestly. I don't talk to him."

Khyana sensed that the conversation was over, and stood to leave.

"I'll talk to Laura as soon as I can, Remus, and get back to you," she said.

"Okay. Thanks, Khyana."

Khyana left the library, making her way slowly back to the common room, via all sorts of random hallways. She didn't particularly want to go back, because Kelria and Sara were likely still in Hogsmeade, and the only people in the common room would be the first and second years…and she didn't really want to deal with them.

So she wandered around the castle, eventually getting warm and taking off her cape, draping it over her arm. She vaguely wondered where her boyfriend was, but didn't dwell on it for too long. She assumed he was probably still in Hogsmeade.

She continued her walk, and suddenly walked straight into something very solid, something that grabbed her arms and wouldn't let her go. She struggled, until she heard a familiar, calming voice.

"Relax, Khyana, it's me. I'm not going to hurt you.

She relaxed against Cam, her heart racing, and he put his arms around her.

"You startled me, Cam."

"I'm sorry." He said, a smile in his voice. "Where were you?" he asked, playing with her hair.

She shrugged. "Around. Just walking."

She could hear the smile in his voice as he replied. "I haven't seen much of you lately. What's new?"

She shrugged. She didn't want to talk to him about Black. "Nothing really. Lots of homework and stuff. You know, the usual."

He laughed. "Yeah, I do know. I have the same problem. No alone time."

"Hm." Khyana agreed, smiling.

"However, everyone else is in Hogsmeade at the moment. We have lots of alone time."

Khyana pulled away slightly and looked up at him, her eyes dancing teasingly.

"Are you trying to seduce me, Cam?"

Cam shrugged, grinning. "Possibly. Is it working?"

Khyana laughed. "Possibly…"

* * *

That night was the traditional Hallowe'en feast, and Khyana determined to enjoy herself with Kelria and Sara, no matter that the rest of her housemates weren't speaking to her.

Kelria and Sara were curious about what Khyana had done for the rest of the afternoon after she'd stormed out of the Three Broomsticks, but she figured that if Remus had wanted them to know he was having problems with Laura, he would have told them, and kept the entire saga to herself.

The Hallowe'en feast was as good as ever, the house elves having gone to every measure it make it so. Khyana found herself enjoying it, laughing and talking with Kelria and Sara, despite the manner of her disposition before the feast. Even after talking and walking with Cam, she had arrived in a sour mood, which had only deepened when she saw Lily and Black at their table. Black had smiled and winked at her, and Lily had waved, but Khyana had ignored them both. The only person she waved to was Remus, who grinned and waved back, though he looked a little pale.

When the feast was over, Khyana was in a considerably better mood than when it had started. She, Sara and Kelria had, as always, sat at the end of the table closest to the other houses, and avoided contact with their fellow Slytherins. Khyana found that the more she got to know Kelria, the more she liked the spunky, outspoken girl. She reminded Khyana much of herself.

As the girls were leaving the Great Hall, Kelria suddenly bent double, her face contorted in pain. Khyana and Sara cried out in alarm, and tried to help the girl, who snarled and pushed their hands away. Sara and Khyana looked at each other, confused, as Kelria pushed her way through the throng of people and disappeared. They did not see her the rest of the night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Projects and Other Niceties**

The next day, Kelria wandered the hallways of the school, not wanting to return to the common room, where she knew Sara and Khyana would be waiting, with lots of uncomfortable questions that she didn't want to answer. Kelria liked the girls well enough, but wasn't sure she trusted them quite enough yet to tell them her secret. She wondered if she would ever be able to trust anyone with it. She knew Dumbledore knew, as he knew everything, but she doubted he would tell anyone unless it was vitally important. She herself tried to forget about it as much as she could, preferring to pretend the problem didn't exist. And it worked, except on nights like the previous one, when it took over and sent her into convulsions. She had gone to see Madam McKenna, who hadn't really been able to do anything except give her a potion to put her to sleep. She had spent the rest of the night in the hospital wing, and was feeling very refreshed, having been able to sleep in as late as she needed, not having to fear Kieran, Alexandra and Colby waking up.

She spent the whole day wandering the halls, and in the library, in a secluded corner reading, not eating anything. She returned to the common room very late, to find it nearly deserted, to her immense relief. She hurried up to her room, and got ready for bed very quietly, not wanting to wake up any of the others. She spent a fitful night dreaming about her father.

* * *

The next morning, Khyana awoke Kelria very early, and the three friends hurried to get dressed, and then went to have showers. Kelria purposely took a longer shower than usual, to avoid having to speak with the other two girls.

During her first period spare, Kelria went out to the Quidditch pitch to fly around a bit by herself. The first game of the season was that Saturday, Slytherin vs. Gryffindor. Khyana was so excited, because their team this year was really good. She was convinced that this was the year they were finally going to wipe that annoying smirk off James Potter's face and win the Quidditch Cup for Slytherin.

When the bell went to end first period, Kelria hurriedly put her broom in the change room and made her way back up to the castle. She had taken all her books with her to the pitch, so she wouldn't be late for Transfiguration. She knew McGonagall would not be impressed if she was late.

She slid into her seat beside Khyana just as the final bell was going, and Khyana looked at her, a worried expression on her face.

"Cutting it a little close, aren't you, Kelria?"

Kelria shrugged. "I got here, didn't I?"

Khyana grinned, and turned her attention to the front, where McGonagall had begun to give the day's lesson.

* * *

After break, all three girls had Potions. They made their way down to the dungeons together, dreading the class. Black and Potter continued to annoy the girls all through the class, and they were getting more than a little annoyed with them. However, this day, their annoyance and dread would grow considerably, as Professor Slughorn had a surprise for them.

"We're doing a project!"

Every single student in the class groaned. More work.

"You will have the entire week to do it, in class. I will be collecting them at the end of Thursday's class, so you better work quickly. You may do the project on any potion of your choice, and it will be done in pairs."

This news was met with enthusiasm. Partners made the project so much more interesting. Immediately, people began asking "do you want to be my partner?"

The five girls had a bit of a problem, but Lily agreed to work with one of the other girls from her house, so Sara and Khyana went together, and Kelria paired off with Alice.

However, Slughorn had another surprise.

"Hush, hush, yes, yes, I know you're excited. However, all this chatter is unnecessary, as I already have your partners picked out."

The class gaped at him.

"No way!" Khyana breathed. "He wouldn't."

"I bet he would," Alice replied sourly.

"I will give you your partners now. I just went through randomly and picked the pairs, there was no method to my madness." Here he grinned at them all. "Okay. Arthur," Neil Arthur raised his head, "You will be working with Miss Evans."

Lily shrugged. It wasn't too bad a pairing.

"Black," Sirius looked up, "You will be working with Miss Malfoy."

Khyana nearly exploded. Slughorn expected work to get done? Keep dreaming, she thought, as Black shot her a wink and a grin. She rolled her eyes and groaned.

"This is going to be a long week," she muttered.

"Lupin, you will be working with Miss Song," Slughorn continued.

Khyana shot Kelria an angry look. "Oh, I'm so jealous!" she said.

"Miss Masters, you will be working with Miss Thompson."

"How come Alice gets to work with Laura? That's not fair!" Khyana hissed.

"Khyana," Sara said finally.

"What?"

"Shut up."

Khyana glared at her, but Kelria was grateful for Sara's statement. Khyana was starting to get a little annoying.

"Nott, you will be working with Miss Wilkes."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Sara cried, jumping out of her chair. "I can't work with him!"

Slughorn looked up, surprised. "Excuse me?"

"I refuse to work with a blood-traitor like that," Nott said coldly, and Slughorn put down his paper.

"You will work with the person I have assigned to you. Do you understand?"

Everyone was slightly amazed at Slughorn's statement. It wasn't in his nature to be strict or stern like that, but everyone knew he meant it. Sara sat back in her seat, looking sullen.

"Potter, you will be working with Tudor. Now, I want you all to get together with your partners and start your research today. I will let you go to the library if you wish, but you should be able to get by today at leas with just your textbooks. If you have any questions, you need only ask." Slughron shot them all a big smile. "Good luck, and have fun!"

There was a scraping of chairs as everyone moved to their partners. The only people who didn't move were Sara, Khyana and Nott. Kelria left them at the table, and moved toward Remus.

"It's Kelria, right?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Kelria Song."

"Right. I'm Remus, Remus Lupin."

"Yes, I know who you are," Kelria replied.

"Okay." Remus said, shrugging. "Do you have any ideas for our potion?"

Kelria grinned. "Yes. I think we should do Felix Felicis."

Remus looked confused. "Do what?"

Kelria sighed. "Felix Felicis, it's a luck potion."

Remus shrugged. "Okay. What do you know about it…?"

They spent the rest of the period talking about the potion and looking stuff up about it in the textbook. The whole class was talking the whole period, so the room was fairly noisy, but one group was louder than all the others. That was Khyana's group. Every five minutes or so, Black would do something to annoy Khyana, and Khyana would blow up at him and yell for the next five minutes…at which point Black would do something else to annoy her, and she would start all over again.

At the end of the period, Kelria and Remus had made good headway on their project. They agreed to meet that night in the library so they could work on it some more, in peace.

So it was that after dinner, Kelria found herself in the library, sitting at a table with all her books spread out, waiting for Remus to show up. According to Khyana and Sara--who had spent the rest of the day and all of the evening so far complaining about their partners--it was not like Remus to be late, so she was understandably worried when, after half an hour, he hadn't shown up.

When he finally did, he looked haggard and rushed.

"Hey, Kelria, I'm really sorry I'm late. Sirius is being a jerk tonight."

Kelria grinned. From what she'd seen, Black was always a jerk.

"It's okay. So, where were we?"

"REMUS!"

Remus looked up, surprised, as Sirius burst into the library, yelling, much to the disapproval of the librarian, Madam Lance, who shot them all a glare.

"What _now_, Sirius?"

Sirius sat down at the table beside Remus, and looked at him expectantly.

"I have a question for you."

"Okay."

"Why doesn't Khyana like me?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Well, I must say, your behaviour in class today certainly didn't give her much reason to change her mind."

Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment, before noticing Kelria.

"Hey! You're friends with Khyana aren't you, Kelria?"

Kelria nodded. "Yes. But if you want to know why she doesn't like you, you're going to have to ask her yourself, I'm afraid. I don't know, and if I did, I probably wouldn't tell you. But Remus is right. If you want her to like you, no more displays like the one in Potions this morning."

Sirius stared at Kelria, then stood abruptly and left.

Remus stared after him. "That was strange."

Kelria nodded. "Shall we continue?"

* * *

Wednesday's Potions class went much the same as Monday's had. Kelria and Remus found a quiet corner at the back of the room, as far away from Khyana and Sirius as they could. They worked diligently until the bell, and decided they would both try to get to the library before the next day to find some final information before the next day's class. Kelria left the room with a fuming Khyana, and a depressed Sara.

"I cannot believe him," Khyana spluttered. "And he thinks I'm going to _date_ him?! Dream on, Black."

"At least yours speaks to you. Nott just sits there and glares at me the whole time. He hasn't done any work yet."

Khyana shrugged. "Neither has Black. You know him, never done a piece of homework in his life."

Sara sighed. "We're doomed."

Khyana shrugged again. "Not really. My project is almost done. Just because Black's not doing anything doesn't mean I'm not. I'm just not going to put his name on it."

Sara grinned. "Good idea."

Kelria kept quiet during this whole discussion, until they turned to her and began talking on and on about how lucky she was to be working with Remus, who actually did work, and held up his end of the project. Kelria had to agree that it was nice to be working with Remus, as he did as much work as she did. She pitied her friends, especially Sara, who had to work with a fellow Slytherin.

However, there was something else that Kelria was feeling. She couldn't quite place it then, but the next day, as soon as she entered the Potions dungeon and saw Remus, she knew exactly what it was. Kelria had a crush on Remus.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Quidditch**

Khyana smirked at her reflection. This was going to be the year. This would be the year they wiped that annoying smirk off James Potter's face and won the Quidditch Cup. The Gryffindor team was good, to be sure, but her team was good this year, too. And Kelria just added to the team, she was an amazing Beater; every Bludger she hit hit something. Khyana was sure she would be hitting players today, although she hadn't hit any yet, because she didn't want to take out her own team.

She headed out of the Captain's office, into the main dressing room, and surveyed her team, a grin on her face. Her fellow Chasers inclined their heads when they saw her, as did Kelria's partner, and their Seeker, Donovan Higgs, jutted out his chin.

"Alright, team. Today's the day."

"Yes, it is," Sara agreed, grinning.

Khyana scowled at her. "Don't interrupt me, Sara."

"Sorry, Cap."

Khyana rolled her eyes. "Anyone else have any comments, before I continue?"

No one said anything else, and she nodded, satisfied.

"Good. So, today's the day. This is the beginning of the season, and this is going to be the year we win. We're going to wipe that annoying smirk-"

"Off Potter's face, and win the Quidditch Cup for Slytherin," Kelria and Sara finished with her.

Khyana glared. "Yes. I may be friendly with a few Gryffindors, but when it comes to Quidditch, Slytherin all the way! Now, let's get out there and kick some butt!"

The team all started talking at once. Everyone seemed to have a comment to make about the Gryffindor team, and Khyana smiled. This was a great team. They worked well together, and they were connected in their yearning for vengeance against the Gryffindors. Even though the rest of the team was removed from Khyana, Sara and Kelria, they still respected Khyana enough to recognise her position of authority, and didn't mention the fact that Khyana and Sara were blood-traitors, at least not to their faces.

"Okay, team. Time to go. Kelria and Braeden, remember to use those bats! Hit as many players as you can…and if you happen to unseat Potter, I'll give you ten Galleons."

Kelria and Braeden both looked thrilled at the idea of money to unseat the Gryffindor Captain, and it was with high spirits that the team left the dressing room.

Khyana led her team onto the pitch with a smirk, to the wild applause of the Slytherin supporters. The whole team looked proud, cold and removed, in proper Slytherin face.

As Khyana and Potter shook hands, neither one smiled.

"May the best team win," James said, inclining his head.

"Thanks," Khyana smirked. "I plan to."

With that, Madam Elsen blew her whistle, and the teams flew upward. As Madam Elsen threw the quaffle in the air, Khyana grabbed it right from under the Gryffindor Chaser's nose, and flew off with it.

* * *

Kelria flew around the pitch, whacking bludgers, players, anything that came her way. If anyone had doubted before that she was indeed Slytherin material, no one could doubt it after they watched her play Quidditch.

She was vaguely aware of the score, but didn't care much because it wasn't her job, and she was so intent on her whacking that she didn't even notice when one of the Gryffindor players flew up beside her.

"Looking good, Slytherin!" he called, and did a catcall.

Disgusted, Kelria hit the next bludger to come her way in his direction. It hit its mark, and the player fell off his broom, falling some 300 feet to the earth.

The Gryffindor supporters howled in anger, as Khyana and James both whipped out their wands, and, as one, whispered a spell. Twin jets of light shot from the ends of their wands and hit the player, slowing his progress to the ground.

"Keep your players in line, Malfoy!" Potter called angrily.

"Keep _my_ players in line? You keep _yours_ from demeaning mine!" Khyana cried back, furious.

They exchanged glares, and flew off. Khyana intercepted a pass between two Gryffindor Chasers, grabbed the quaffle, and flew off toward the goalposts at the end of the pitch. She put her famous backspin on the quaffle, causing it to return after it went through, hit the Gryffindor Keeper in the back of the head, and go back through the goalpost.

The Slytherin crowd went wild, as the commentator said, "And Slytherin Captain Malfoy scores _twice_ for Slytherin. Slytherin lead Gryffindor 20-0."

* * *

Sitting in the stands, Sirius, Remus and Peter were quite enjoying themselves.

"Slytherin may be in the lead now, but you just wait, we'll win this one yet," Sirius predicted.

Remus shrugged. "We just lost a Chaser, and Malfoy is _good_."

"Yes," Sirius allowed, "But so is James."

"James is just the Seeker, though. If Slytherin are ahead by more than 150 points when he catches the snitch, they'll win it." Peter replied.

Sirius sneered. "Prongs wouldn't let that happen."

"He may be forced to," Remus argued. "If the snitch appears, and Higgs is going for it, even if they're up by more than 150, Prongs is going to have to take it."

Sirius turned back to the pitch, aloof. "We'll win this. I won't live it down if we don't."

* * *

After her first goal, Khyana and her team played exceptionally well. The power of the first goal was inherent, and Gryffindor fell further and further behind as Khyana and her fellow Chasers, Mel Avery and Cailean Yaxley, scored more and more goals. After an hour, Slytherin led Gryffindor 200-60. As Khyana went in for another goal, a scarlet blob streaked past her, followed very closely by a green one. It was Potter and Higgs, streaking for the snitch.

Panic seized Khyana. If Potter caught the snitch now, Gryffindor would win.

She looked up at the Gryffindor Keeper, Allan Johnston, who was watching Potter and Higgs closely. If she could sneak in now and get a goal…

She streaked toward the goalpost, and felt a rush of gratitude toward Kelria, as a red ball rushed past her head and hit the Gryffindor Keeper on the arm, knocking him out of the air.

She vaguely heard the commentator screaming, and the crowds in the stands, but she was too intent on her goal. She put the quaffle through the hoop, with the backspin, and positioned herself so it would hit her and go back through. It had just gone through the second time, when the Gryffindor crowd went wild.

Khyana smirked. Potter may have caught the snitch, but Slytherin still won the game. The Slytherin crowd went wild, and the Gryffindors looked subdued as the two teams landed.

"Slytherin win!" Madam Elsen called, blowing her whistle.

The Slytherin players walked off the pitch proudly. When they reached the change room, the noise outside was deafening. Slytherin supporters were yelling, stomping their feet, and just making as much noise as possible. Slytherin may have won by a close margin--only ten points separated the two teams--but they had still won. Their Captain had come through for them.

"Good job, team!" Khyana said, flushed and breathless, and big grin on her face.

The players around her smirked, breathing heavily, and congratulated each other. She went into the Captain's office, and sat in the chair, grinning like a maniac.

She had beat Potter. Oh, this was an occasion to remember. Potter and the others would not live this down. She had beat him. And with minimal casualties. Only two Gryffindor players had gone down in the course of the game, and she had lost none of her own. She was sure to get an earful from Potter for Kelria's Beating, but she didn't mind. It would be worth it.

She waited until she could no longer hear the other outside before she left the office. She wanted to walk up in total triumph, with just Kelria and Sara with her.

As she had expected, Kelria and Sara had waited for her, and the three friends walked up arm in arm, grinning widely.

"Kelria, that was amazing!" Khyana gushed happily. "I've never seen such accurate Beating! And knocking McCabe and Johnston off their brooms like that…oh, Potter's face was priceless."

"You were awesome, too, Khyana! That backspin on the quaffle was so cool. And yeah, McCabe definitely deserved to be knocked off his broom," Kelria replied.

"Definitely," Sara agreed. "What a pervert."

Khyana nodded. "The Gryffindors are never going to live this down. Oh, I'm going to remind Potter of this day for the rest of his sorry life."

Sara frowned. "I don't actually think Potter's all that bad a guy. I think we've all been influenced by Lily's opinion of him, but him and Black are just being themselves."

"Arrogant, pompous idiots, you mean," Khyana said.

Sara grinned. "Yeah. Exactly."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Revelations**

The Sunday following the Quidditch match was heaven for Khyana. All the Slytherins seemed to have forgotten that she and Sara were blood-traitors and that Kelria didn't really fit in with them, in light of the amazing win the previous day. The entire team was treated like royalty, as it was the first time in as many years that Slytherin had beat Gryffindor at Quidditch.

The rest of the school, however, were not as impressed with Slytherin's success. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs who had been cheering for Gryffindor were even colder toward the Slytherins than usual. And the Gryffindors were absolutely unbearable. Even Alice and Lily, who didn't usually care about Quidditch, wouldn't speak to Khyana, Kelria or Sara.

"You shouldn't have won," Lily said angrily. "You didn't play fairly."

Khyana bristled. "That's Quidditch, Lily. Deal or don't, whatever."

Khyana had stalked away from her, followed closely by Kelria and Sara, who didn't necessarily agree with either girl. Kelria had done what she'd had to to win the game. It wasn't necessarily fair or unfair, it simply was. It had happened, and even if she'd wanted to (which she didn't), she couldn't go back and change it.

The rest of the evening was soured for the three girls, although they but on a brave face for the rest of their House.

* * *

Everything went back to normal the next day. The Slytherins were still proud of their win, and the rest of the school was still furious, but the Gryffindor team seemed to have decided to put it behind them and move on. Of course, their loss would be brought back to light before the next game, but for now, they weren't going to dwell on it.

Lily and Alice were still cool toward their Slytherin friends, but seemed to be more forgiving in light of a new development.

"Potter kissed Lily last night," Alice said promptly upon entering the Transfiguration room.

"He _what_?!" Khyana exclaimed. "Idiot."

"Yeah," Alice agreed. "Lily's been fuming all night."

"I have _not_ been fuming, Alice!" Lily said, uncharacteristically sharp.

"See what I mean?" Alice said.

Khyana and Kelria nodded.

Khyana was furious. What an idiot! Remus should keep a closer reign on his friends…

She didn't pay much attention that day to McGonagall's lesson. She was too busy thinking…

* * *

During her sixth period spare, Khyana was sitting in the library, working on her Potions essay, when a dark shadow fell over her paper. Sara was in Herbology, and Kelria was off with Alice working on some thing or another, so it was with some surprise that she glanced up over the top of her glasses, and somehow managed to keep her poker face.

"Black," she said, glancing at her textbook for her next sentence.

"Malfoy," he replied, then sat down beside her. She gave him a contemptuous look.

"Is there something I can help you with, Black?"

"Actually, yeah," he replied, pulling out his textbook. "I was wondering if you could give me some help with the charms essay."

At that point, she put her quill down on the table and looked up at him--he was a lot taller than her, even sitting down--and gave him her "Slytherin look of utter contempt".

"You want help with your charms essay." She repeated.

"Yes."

"Since when does Sirius Black do homework?"

He shrugged. "Since Remus has threatened to hex me if I don't do at least one essay this year."

"And you figure you'll get it over with as soon as possible, even though you know you could hex Remus into next week." She replied.

He grinned. "You know me well, Malfoy."

Khyana snorted. "No, you're just predictable, Black."

He produced a hurt look for her. "That hurts, Malfoy."

"I'm sure you'll get over it." She replied.

He grinned. "So, are you going to help me or not?"

"I'll consider it."

He gave her a blank look. "The essay is due tomorrow, Malfoy."

"I'm aware. You should have asked sooner." She replied, returning to her essay.

He did not go away, as she had hoped he would.

"You really don't like me, do you, Malfoy?" he asked.

"Nope," she replied, glancing back at her textbook.

"Why not?"

She slowly placed her quill on her paper and looked up at him, her contemptuous look still in place.

"Would you like the reasons in alphabetical order, or in order of importance?"

He gave her a lopsided grin. "Order of importance."

"You're arrogant, conceited and egotistical. I know, they all mean the same thing, but you're so much so that it needs saying three times." He grinned. "You're pig-headed, rude, immature, impatient, inconsiderate, lazy, snotty, annoying, controlling…need I go on?"

Sirius' grin had disappeared. "No. No, you don't need to go on, I think that's a sufficient list."

"Good. Then leave me alone, Black, before I decide to use you to practise my non-verbal spells."

He left the library hurriedly, not looking back, and Khyana felt a pang in her stomach. Perhaps she had been too hard on him?

"Stop it," she told herself quietly. "It's Black. It's all true, you didn't say anything you didn't mean. Stop feeling sorry for him."

After a time, Khyana took a break from her essay, and stretched back, releasing her tension. She noticed a brown-haired girl sitting on the other side of the library and grinned. Now was her chance; she might not get another one.

She moved quickly, collecting her things together into her book bag and making her way across the library to confront the girl.

"Miss Masters."

Laura Masters looked up, startled, and smiled when she saw Khyana.

"Miss Malfoy. Sit, please. To what do I owe this honour?"

Khyana grinned as well as she sat. This was one of the things she enjoyed about her friendship with Laura, this easy, simple, goofy formality.

"I just saw you sitting here, alone, and decided that, since I was also sitting alone, I might as well join you."

Laura laughed. "Good form, Khyana."

"So, how's life? We haven't really had a good talk in…wow, a long time!"

Laura nodded. "It's been, what? Five months?"

"At least," Khyana agreed.

"Well, nothing much is happening with me lately…what about you?"

Khyana shrugged. "Nothing really." She replied, although they both knew there was a lot happening to both of them.

"That was some amazing flying on Saturday," Laura said.

"Thanks," Khyana grinned.

"Khyana, I heard you and Sara ran away this summer. Is that true?"

Khyana nodded stiffly.

"Why?" Laura asked, putting down her quill and looking genuinely concerned.

Khyana shrugged and gave her the same answer she'd given Cam. "It was time."

Laura nodded. "I can understand that."

"Yeah…anyway. How are things going with you and Remus?" Khyana asked, making it sound light and teasing, as though that wasn't the sole reason she had come over.

Laura's face fell and she shrugged. "Not so good. It's just not the same anymore. There's something he's not telling me, I can feel it! And I… I just don't like him that way anymore. He's more of a friend. You know?"

Khyana nodded.

"I think I might break up with him soon."

Khyana choked. "Oh really?" she asked, trying to keep her voice light. Remus would be crushed.

"Yeah," Laura said sadly, looking at her hands, clasped in her lap. "It's just not working."

Khyana didn't know what to say, so she kept quiet.

"What about you and Cam?" Laura asked, looking up again.

Khyana shrugged, then chose her words carefully. Remus' guess was correct. Laura did like Cam. Khyana saw the way Laura's face lit up--if only for a nanosecond--when she mentioned his name.

"I don't know. I never get to see him anymore. I mean, sure, I still like him, but it's just not working out. I think he's ashamed to be seen with me, because I'm a Slytherin, so we don't really get to see each other. And I've always sensed that he didn't really _like_ me, he just…I don't know. I don't even know why he's going out with me."

Laura looked sympathetic. "I know how you feel. I've had that happen to me before, too." She glanced up at the clock and made a strangled noise in her throat. "I have to go, Khyana, I have Quidditch practise in five minutes! See you!"

Laura grabbed her things, shoved them in her bag and hurried out of the library. Khyana sighed. Poor Remus. And poor her. What she had said to Laura was true. She should probably break up with Cam…and in her opinion, the sooner the better.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Foul Moods**

The rest of that week was a bad one all around. Sirius, having discovered finally why Khyana didn't like him, had decided that if she didn't like him, that was fine with him, and he was going to move on. However, everyone could see that, as valiant as his efforts were, he wasn't making any headway.

"You can't just stop liking her, Padfoot," James told him Wednesday night, when it was quite clear that he wasn't getting anywhere with this new idea of his.

"I can so!" Sirius cried angrily. "I started, I can stop."

"Prongs is right, Padfoot. You can't just stop liking someone," Remus agreed.

Sirius shot them all glares, before rising from his seat and storming out of the dormitory.

James sighed. "He's going to be one sorry man if he doesn't figure this out."

"Yes, he is," Remus agreed. "I think if he let Khyana see the part of him that wasn't a goof, he'd be okay, but he's too worried about what everyone else thinks to do that."

James looked thoughtful. "Do you think that would work with Lily?"

Remus gave a bark of a laugh. "Maybe it would have if you hadn't kissed her the other night."

James turned crimson. "I couldn't help it, mate! Honest, I tried."

Remus nodded. "I believe you, Prongs. It's a curse, love is, I'm telling you."

"This coming from the man who's finally managed to get a successful relationship going." James said teasingly.

Remus suddenly looked sad. "Not so successful. I think she's going to break up with me."

"Why?" James asked, surprised.

Remus shrugged. "I dunno. I just get that feeling. I think she likes Cam."

"Cam Jones?"

Remus nodded.

"But, Cam's going out with Malfoy," James said, confused.

"That doesn't mean Laura can't like him." Remus replied.

"Well, no, but she'd be a fool to break up with you to go out with him if he's going out with Malfoy."

Peter looked suddenly terrified. "If this is what love is like, I'm glad to have no part in it."

Remus shook his head. "What I have with Laura isn't love. It's just a crush. It was nice while it lasted, but I think it's time to move on."

James looked suddenly stern. "You're not going to go feeling all sorry for yourself, are you, Remus?"

Remus shook his head. "No. No, of course I'm not. I'll take it in stride."

"Good. Because I don't think we'd be able to deal with three depressed people in this dormitory."

"Three?"

"You, me, and Padfoot."

"Oh yeah. Padfoot."

* * *

After he stormed out of his dormitory, Sirius didn't know where to go. It was, technically, after hours, and he would, technically, get in trouble if he was caught out of bed, but he couldn't go back and face his roommates. Because the truth was, they were right. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop liking Khyana. He could tell himself he had, and he could tell everyone else that he had, but the truth was, he really hadn't, and he wondered if he ever would…

* * *

Khyana had two problems on her hands that week. One was that, no matter how long and hard she looked, she couldn't fin Cam, anywhere! Which meant that she couldn't break up with him…but the other was an even less pleasant prospect--if that was possible--and that was the problem of Sirius Black. Ever since their little confrontation on Monday, Khyana had been feeling more than a little guilty about what she had said. Truth be told, Black wasn't that bad a guy, she'd realised. He was just a little…eccentric. And he could be annoying, yes, but everyone was. She'd decided that if he liked her that much, she could maybe give him a chance to become her friend.

* * *

Kelria was in a foul mood. Khyana had been looking for Cam all week, to break up with him, but hadn't found him, so she was in a bad mood and, consequently, everyone else was in a bad mood, too. Kelria had so much homework she didn't think she'd be able to finish it if she had a month of Sundays, and Sara was not doing so well in her areas of study and had decided that if her marks didn't improve, she would have to drop some of her classes, an idea she didn't like at all.

To top it all off, Quidditch practise was going horribly. Khyana, being such a bad mood, was sharp and snippy with all the members of the team, who, in turn, were sharp and snippy in reply. It made for a very nasty, cold practise.

And Kelria still hadn't decided how she felt about Remus. She was almost positive that she liked him, but then she would remember her problem, and complications would arise. Also, he was going out with Laura Masters, whom Kelria liked despite herself, and she couldn't very well go out with him.

So, she sulked. She wasn't in a good mood at all, and she was feeling very childish. So, she sat in her room, on her bed, with her arms crossed, and sulked. No matter how many times Khyana snapped at her to grow up, Kelria didn't change her position.

"Aright, fine," Khyana snapped finally. "If you're going to be such a baby, you can stay here until I come back. Just like a baby."

With that, Khyana snapped her fingers, and bars appeared around Kelria's bed.

"Hey!"

Khyana shrugged. "You wanted to be a baby. Babies sleep in cribs. So there you go."

With that, she left the room, fuming, ignoring Kelria's angry protests.

She went looking--again--for Cam. He had to be _somewhere_ in this blasted school!

Instead, she found Sirius Black, looking furious, and a little forlorn. He stiffened when he saw her.

"Malfoy."

"Black."

"What are you doing?"

Khyana bristled, forgetting her resolution to befriend him. "This is as much my school as yours, Black, I have as much right to be here as you do."

"It's after hours."

"And yet you're up."

Sirius seemed to have no reply to this, so maintained his silence.

Khyana wasn't sure what to say next, either, so the result was a fairly awkward silence. Khyana had never before understood the phrase "the loudest silence", but now she did. It was certainly the loudest silence she had ever encountered.

"So, where are you off to?" Black asked finally.

Khyana shrugged. "Looking for my boyfriend."

Sirius stiffened. "Why?"

"None of your business."

"Okay," Sirius shrugged. "But you do realise he's probably in bed, right?"

A look of understanding lit Khyana's face. "Oh yeah."

"Yeah."

"Well then I should probably get back to my dormitory." She said. "I left Kelria in a rather awkward position, I should probably let her out."

Sirius raised his eyebrows in confusion, and she smiled.

"Long story, don't ask."

Sirius shrugged. "Alright. I guess I'll see you later."

"Yep. See you in the morning."

With that, Khyana turned away and walked back to her dormitory. Sirius stood rooted to the spot for several minutes before shaking himself out of his reverie.

"Did I just have a normal conversation with Khyana Malfoy?" he whispered, then realised that he had indeed, and grinned widely, heading back toward his own dormitory a lot happier than he had left it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Learning New Things**

That Saturday, Remus found himself cornered in the owlery, and as much as he had told James he'd take it in stride, it was fairly awkward.

"Laura."

"Remus."

"How are you today?"

Laura shrugged. "I've been better," she replied.

"I see."

They fell into an awkward silence then, neither one knowing what to say, each shuffling their feet on the floor.

"Look, Remus, we need to talk."

Remus sighed. He knew where this was going.

"Okay."

Laura looked uncomfortable. "Remus, I'm really sorry, but this just isn't working. I think of you more as a friend than a boyfriend now."

Remus nodded. "I've been expecting this. I agree. This isn't working."

Laura looked surprised. "You've been expecting this?"

Remus nodded again. "Yes ma'am."

Laura seemed to be angered by this. "I see. Well, Remus, it's been fun. Good bye."

With that she left the owlery, leaving Remus alone.

"Good bye," he whispered quietly, then left the owlery quietly himself.

* * *

Khyana wasn't entirely surprised when Remus came and sat beside her in the library when she was working on her Potions assignment.

"Remus."

He looked haggard and worn.

"What's wrong?"

"Wrong? Nothing is wrong." He replied.

Khyana looked puzzled. "Then why do you look like your mother just died?"

"Do I? Must be the moon."

Khyana took that comment in stride, knowing that she too sometimes felt the effects of the lunar cycle.

"So, nothing is wrong?"

"No. Well, not _wrong_, exactly…Laura and I broke up this morning."

"Did you indeed? Interesting."

"Interesting?" Remus demanded. "Did you talk to her, Khyana?"

"Yes."

"And you didn't tell me?"

Khyana looked surprised and affronted. "Of course not! What Laura revealed to me was confidential, Remus. No matter that you asked me to speak to her, I couldn't betray her trust like that. That's not what friends do."

Remus sighed tiredly. "Okay, okay, you don't need to jump down my throat, Khyana. Speaking of friends, what's going on between you and Sirius?"

Khyana choked. "Me and Sirius? Nothing!"

Remus raised his eyebrows.

"We _talked_, Remus, that's all."

"Yes, but you _talked_ without yelling at each other."

Khyana shrugged and returned to her assignment. "Maybe I've decided that Sirius isn't that bad. Maybe I'd be willing to give friendship with Sirius a try. You may tell Sirius that, if you're so inclined."

"Oh, I am indeed," Remus replied, grinning and standing. "I'll see you later, Khyana. Hey, Kelria," he added as the redhead came over to the table.

"Hey, Remus," she said indifferently. "Khyana, may I speak to you?"

"Of course. Goodbye, Remus."

"I'm gone," Remus replied, leaving.

"What's up, Kel?"

Kelria made a face. "Don't call me Kel, Khyana. It's annoying."

Khyana put a period on her parchment with a flourish and looked up with a grin. "Okay. What's up?"

Kelria sighed loudly. "I think I might possibly maybe like Remus."

"Remus Lupin?"

Kelria looked annoyed. "How many other Remuses do you know, Khyana?"

Khyana grinned. "You like Remus? Really!?"

Kelria sighed. "Am I going to regret telling you this?"

"Of course not! I'm a closed vault."

"Good."

Khyana got a big grin on her face. "I can't believe you like Remus!"

Kelria made a face. "You're acting like a 12-year-old, Yana."

Khyana laughed. "He just broke up with Laura, you know."

"Really?"

Khyana laughed again at Kelria's face. "Yes, really. But give him a while, okay?" she said seriously. "Honestly, leave him be. He needs time to recover."

"I make no promises," Kelria replied, as she stood and left the library.

* * *

Over the next little while, Kelria decided that she needed to get to know Remus…at least better than she did at present. Because yes, she liked him, but she still barely knew him. And she could never go out with him…she sighed every time she remembered that.

She felt a little embarrassed whenever she talked to Remus, because she could feel Khyana watching her, and every time she looked over at Khyana during these times, the blonde had a satisfied smirk on her face. It made Kelria almost angry.

* * *

Khyana had to grin every time she saw Kelria try to flirt with Remus, and she often asked herself how she had missed it before. It was so obvious, she wondered that Remus didn't put a stop to it…however, maybe she had misjudged him and he did like Kelria…who knew?

She, however, had her own problem, and that would be the one of Sirius Black. Ever since that night in the hall, they had actually had some civilised conversations, and Khyana was learning that Sirius wasn't always the dimwitted idiot she had taken him for…

And, to her utter dismay and horror, she was finding that she almost looked forward to seeing him in classes. She kept these feelings to herself, however. Not even Sara knew about it. And that was the way she wanted to keep it.

However, the one thing that was _not_ a secret was how Lily now felt about James. A second-year Ravenclaw student had come across the two Heads in a deserted classroom one afternoon, and the Hogwarts rumour mill had run its course in due time. By the end of that day, almost everyone in the school--including teachers--knew that Lily and James were going out. Much to Lily's embarrassment. Khyana, Sara, Alice and Kelria had given Lily no end of misery over it, especially because Kelria had overheard it from a Hufflepuff fifth year, and the others had heard it from her. They claimed (whether there was any truth to this claim remained to be seen) that if Lily had told them herself, they wouldn't have made fun of her so much. But Lily didn't really believe them, to her credit.

And so, there was much drama going on at Hogwarts, at least among the seventh-years…but it wasn't nearly as much as there was about to be…

* * *

**A/N**: Thank you to **Kendra-the hyper one** for reviewing! I LOVE REVIEWS! So keep them coming...I hope to have chapter 10 up soon, but I'm kind of swamped with homework right now, so I'll have to see!


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Getting to the Bottom**

"So, Lily."

"So, Yana."

Khyana made a face. Her friends had taken to calling her that lately, and she still wasn't sure how she felt about it. She decided that if it kept up, she'd start calling Kelria "Kel" again.

"What's going on with you and Potter?"

"And don't say 'nothing'." Alice added.

Lily blushed a deep crimson. "Well, I guess we're going out."

"You _guess_?" Sara asked sceptically.

"Yeah."

"And how, pray tell, did this occur?" Kelria asked.

Lily looked uncomfortable, and glanced around. The five friends were gathered in the library to work on some homework together, and Khyana had decided it was as good a time as any to discuss Lily and Potter's relationship.

"No one's listening, Lily, and we're not going to tell anyone," Alice said, exasperated. "Just talk."

Lily looked around one last time before leaning in close, a small smile on her face. "Alright, fine, I'll tell you."

"You better," Sara agreed. "We're your best friends."

Lily chuckled. "Yes, that you are. Okay. So…where do I start?"

"How about that night last month when Potter kissed you." Kelria suggested.

"That's private!" Lily exclaimed, blushing furiously again.

"Nuh uh," Khyana countered. "Here, nothing is private."

Lily frowned. "Alright, but what is said in the library…"

"Stays in the library." The other four finished quietly.

It was part of a ritual that Sara, Khyana, Lily and Alice had formed when they first became friends, to show that they would not tell anything that was said to them in confidence. Kelria had picked up on it quickly.

"Okay, good. So…oh yeah. So, that night, I don't even know how it happened…we were doing our rounds after hours, to make sure everyone was in bed, and…I don't know, all of a sudden, I was in his arms, and he was kissing me…I think I tripped."

"O my goodness, Lily, can you _get_ any more clichéd?" Khyana asked.

Lily blushed deeper. "It's not my fault!" she said indignantly. "There was something on the floor!"

"And I bet you never once stopped to think that maybe Potter had put it there for that very purpose, did you?" Sara demanded.

"No…" Lily replied slowly.

"Lily, my dear, you have a lot to learn," Alice said, patting the other girl on the arm like she would an ignorant child.

Lily looked round at them all, and suddenly burst out laughing.

"You guys are so funny!"

The other four exchanged looks. Had Lily finally gone insane?

"Lily, hon, are you okay?" Alice asked cautiously.

Lily nodded. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. You four are just being so serious about this, it makes me laugh!"

"Right, Lily, whatever you say," Khyana said.

"So yeah, that's what happened."

"And then what?" Kelria asked. "Obviously you were angry about that, we saw that. And how did you start going out?"

Lily shrugged. "I was angry, because he was being so immature about it, but then he apologised, and lately he's actually been okay, like we've been talking and stuff, and…I don't know. We just started going out."

"Lily, that's lame," Khyana informed her.

"Well, he asked me and I said yes," Lily supplied.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well that's boring."

Lily looked affronted. "Boring, am I? Well, Miss Malfoy, your love life is not very exciting in itself."

"Actually, I've been watching Yana, and I think she's got something going on with Sirius Black," Kelria said teasingly.

Khyana knew better than to deny it vehemently and merely shrugged. "Maybe I do and maybe I don't. You'll never know."

"Whatever happened to "here nothing is secret", Yana?" Alice asked.

Khyana shrugged. "That was in reference to Lily. But, if you're going to pull that on me, then perhaps Kelria should tell us all about her fascination with Remus."

"You said you wouldn't tell anyone!" Kelria exclaimed.

Khyana shrugged. "If you're going to tell everyone about Sirius, then I reserve the right to divulge any information I deem relevant to the conversation."

Kelria scowled. "That's not fair."

Khyana shrugged. "Slytherin," was all she said.

"Alright, well now you both have to tell," Alice said.

Khyana shrugged. "There's nothing to tell. We're friends, that's all."

Alice gave her a teasing smile. "That's what they all say, love."

Khyana tossed her potions text at her, which Alice caught deftly and tossed back.

"Now, Kelria."

Kelria blushed. "So, I like Remus? Not that it matters. He doesn't like me, and I can't date him anyway."

"Why not?" Lily asked, curious.

Kelria seemed to think she'd said too much and wouldn't say anything else about it. When Sara and Alice continued to press her, she stood and left the library.

"What was that about?" Alice asked, watching the other girl's retreating back.

"I don't know." Khyana admitted. "I think it might have something to do with her seizure on Hallowe'en, though."

"Probably," Sara agreed.

Khyana stared after Kelria, and wondered what on earth was wrong with the girl, and why she wouldn't tell anyone…

* * *

"You know what I just realised?"

"What?"

"Khyana's birthday's in two weeks. She's coming of age. We should throw her a party."

"Oh yeah! I'd completely forgotten about that…yeah, we should definitely do something…something big."

"Definitely. We'll start planning now."

* * *

"So, Padfoot. What's going on with you and Malfoy?"

"Truly? I'm not sure. We talk, but I don't think she wants to go out with me or anything."

Remus nodded. "Yeah, well, that takes time. Just be patient."

Sirius made a face. "I'm not so good at being patient, Moony."

"Oh, well I know it," Remus grinned.

Sirius threw his book at him. "And what about you, Oh Wise One? What's going on with you and that new girl…what's her name?"

Remus gave him a stern look. "Rule number one of dating: know your crush's best friends' names!"

Sirius glared. "I do know them! Sara, Lily, Alice and that other girl who's name you're going to tell me or I'll hex you."

Remus made a dismissive movement with his hand. "You won't hex me. And I'm not going to tell you her name, that's your assignment for the week, to figure it out. And, to answer your earlier question, nothing is going on with her and me. I barely talk to her."

Sirius' eyes twinkled teasingly. "Ah, but she likes you."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Grow up, Sirius."

"Note the lack of denial," Sirius said to the room at large.

Remus threw a shoe at him.

* * *

A/N: So, not as much drama as I'd hoped for...but still a fair amount. And there will be quite a bit more in the near future...I have a few ideas, thanks to Kelria...or, the person who Kelria is based on. So, those should be up soon...and Khyana's birthday party will definitely be in the next chapter, along with some interesting new developments...R&R please! 


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Conquests**

The wind howled and the snow swirled, but the Slytherin Quidditch team would not be deterred so easily.

"Foren has acquired some really good players this year, but so have we," Khyana had said in her pre-game pep talk. "We can take this one, team, I know we can. We beat Gryffindor, and if we beat Ravenclaw too, the only thing left to do is beat Hufflepuff, and then whoever's in the finals with us. We can do it, I have faith! Now let's go!"

Now, as the teams flew in the biting cold and the crowds cheered madly, Khyana was vaguely aware of what was going on around her, but not so much so that she lost her concentration. It was difficult to see in the swirling wind, but Khyana didn't need to see. She knew the pitch like the back of her hand, and it was a good thing, too, because she planned on winning this one, just like she had the last.

The first weekend in December was usually the first snow at Hogwarts. But this year, the first snow had fallen two weeks before, giving the Quidditch teams a chance to practise in the conditions they would be playing in. It was the last game before the Christmas holidays, and everyone was eager to see how it would turn out.

Khyana had lost track of the score after Ravenclaw had scored the seventh time, tying up the game. At that point, she had flown over to Sara and given the brunet a long talk about effort.

"If you want to win this one, Sara Lynae Wilkes, you better pick up your pace and increase your effort!"

"You're one to talk, Yana! Get out there and score some goals!"

Furious, Khyana had flown off. She had yet to score a goal in this game. Mel and Cailean had stolen all her thunder thus far.

When Madam Elsen's whistle blew to end the game, Khyana alighted on the ground, pleased with her two goals, but wishing she could have scored more.

"Slytherin win!" Madam Elsen called, and the Slytherin players again left the field in smug happiness.

* * *

When Khyana left the pitch much later, Kelria and Sara were not waiting for her. She had not expected them to, after her exchange with Sara, but she felt sad about it nonetheless. She walked up to the castle in cold silence.

When she reached the school, she found that dinner was already underway, so she slipped in quietly and sat beside Kelria.

"Where have you been?" Kelria asked.

"Out at the pitch," Khyana replied, reaching for a chicken leg. "I needed to clear my head."

Kelria nodded and didn't press the matter.

* * *

That night, rather than endure Sara's cold silence, Khyana wandered the hallways, ever keeping an eye out for Cam. She took a book with her, so she could find a quiet place to sit and read and just relax.

Finally, she came across a window seat on the seventh floor in an alcove, and sat down in the deserted hallway to read her book.

"So, Miss Malfoy, you have defeated both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw at Quidditch. How do you feel?"

Khyana looked up to see a teasing grin on the face of Sirius Black, and grinned evilly.

"I feel absolutely marvellous, Mr. Black," she replied, standing. She always felt awkward when sitting in the presence of those who were taller than her.

"Indeed, I expected as much," Sirius grinned.

Khyana laughed. "Did you come all the way up here to ask me how I was doing, Mr. Black?" she asked teasingly.

"Not exactly," Sirius admitted. "There was something else…"

Khyana's heart was pounding. _'Oh no_,' she thought desperately.

"What was that?" she asked, trying to keep her voice light.

"This," Sirius replied, and he leaned down and kissed her.

* * *

Kelria was in a very bad mood indeed. Khyana and Sara were apparently in a fight, and they weren't speaking to each other, which left Kelria in the middle. She hated being in the middle.

She decided she didn't want to stick around and listen to Sara complain about Khyana, so she made some lame excuse and left the common room in search of more pleasant company. She found it in the form of Lily Evans, in the library.

"Hey, Lily."

"Hey, Kelria. What's up?"

"Not much," Kelria replied. "Sara and Khyana are fighting, Khyana's gone off to find Cam, and Sara's complaining, so I left."

Lily nodded. "Good idea. Best not to get in the middle of Slytherin fights. I know from experience."

"Yeah," Kelria agreed.

"Hey, have you talked to Alice lately?"

"Not really, why?"

"She's been looking all over for you guys, she wants to invite you to her house for the Christmas holidays."

"Oh really? That's awesome, I'm sure Khyana and Sara will be thrilled. I'll have to ask my mom, but I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Oh, so you do have parents," Lily said.

"Yeah," Kelria replied, confused. "Didn't you know that?"

Lily shook her head. "We've been wondering about it for a while now. You've never mentioned them before."

"Oh, really? Well, I live with my mom. My dad left us when I was really little, I haven't seen him since I was two. So yeah."

"I'm sorry, Kel."

"Don't be," Kelria said dismissively. "I've gotten over it."

"Well, I'm glad," Lily replied. "I don't think I'd ever be able to live if my dad did that to us. I might end up having to live with Petunia…ugh."

"Who's Petunia?"

"My older sister. She hates magic."

"Awe, that sucks," Kelria sympathised. "I take it you two don't get along that well, then?"

"Not at all," Lily agreed. "She's getting married this summer, though, so I won't have to deal with her anymore."

"Well, that's good at least," Kelria said.

"Yeah, it is," Lily agreed, then looked back at the piece of parchment in front of her. "I should get working on this. It's getting late."

Kelria looked at the clock over the bookshelves and gasped. "Merlin, it's almost 11 o'clock! I should get going, see you, Lily!"

"Bye," Lily replied, waving as she returned to her essay.

* * *

Khyana lost all sense of time. She was a little angry with herself for how easily she had given in to Sirius' kiss, but she had known for a while that she liked him, so she wasn't entirely surprised.

Finally, she came back to her senses as Sirius moved to trace her jawline with kisses.

"Sirius," she murmured.

"Hm?"

"Sirius, we can't," she said softly.

"Can't what?"

She pulled away, but didn't move his arms from her waist.

"Not now, Sirius."

"Why not?"

Khyana allowed herself a little smile. "I still have a boyfriend, Sirius. I can't cheat like this."

Sirius deflated a little, and then nodded. "I understand."

"Thank you," she said, moving away. "I should get going. I'll see you around, Sirius."

"See you," Sirius agreed.

As soon as Khyana was out of sight of Sirius, she stopped dead and collapsed on the floor, dazed. What had just happened?

* * *

The next day, Sunday, Khyana, Kelria and Sara all slept later than usual, as they had all gone to bed very late. Khyana had crept into the dormitory around midnight, having gone for a walk to clear her head after her encounter with Sirius. Kelria had gone straight to bed after she returned from talking with Lily, but it had taken her a while to fall asleep, especially after Khyana had returned so late.

When Khyana woke, she dressed quickly and went on a quest: the same quest she had been on for the past month.

Finally, her efforts were rewarded, as she found Cam studying with Laura in the library.

"Cam, I need to talk to you," she said, approaching them. "Hey, Laura," she added.

Laura did not smile back, and Cam stood slowly.

"Alright," he said, following her to a corner of the library.

"Cam, this isn't working. We never see each other, and I know you like Laura, and this just isn't going to work. I'm sorry."

Cam nodded stiffly. "Laura told me you were going to break up with me. Well, I guess this is goodbye, Khyana."

"I guess it is," Khyana agreed, seething that Laura had broken her confidence like that. "Goodbye, Cam."

Khyana left Cam standing on his own in the library, and walked past Sirius on her way out, grinning at him. He smiled back.

She left the library thinking, _'Well, Khyana, you've done it. Now you have no excuse not to go out with Sirius…_'

* * *

Later that same day, Kelria found herself with absolutely nothing to do. Quidditch practises were over, as the season would not start up again until the spring, so she didn't even have that to distract her. She sensed that something was up with Khyana, but didn't feel like dealing with more drama right now.

She went for a walk and found Lily, Alice and Sara in the library, huddled around a piece of parchment on a table.

"Hey, ladies, whatcha doing?" she asked, approaching.

Lily immediately covered the parchment with her body, then breathed in relief and sat up as she saw who it was.

"Oh, it's you, Kel. I thought you were Yana for a moment."

Kelria furrowed her brow in confusion. "Do I sound like Yana?"

"No," Sara explained, "But we can't let Yana know what we're doing."

"What _are_ you doing?"

"Planning a birthday party for Yana. I was just about to send Sara to get you," Lily explained.

"Oh, that's cool," Kelria said, sitting down, feeling a little upset that she hadn't been included in the plans earlier. "When's her birthday?"

"Next Saturday," Alice said. "Oh, now that I've got you both here, I might as well ask you. Can you two come stay at my house over the Christmas holidays?"

"Yeah, for sure," Sara said immediately. "I don't have anywhere else to go."

"I have to ask my mom, but I'm sure it'll be fine," Kelria answered.

"Alright."

"So, anyway. We were talking about location. We were thinking we could ask one of the teachers if we could use their classroom, since we're all from different Houses, and we can't have it in a common room…and who should we invite?"

"Why do we need to invite anyone else?" Sara demanded. "It'll just be the five of us."

"Lily wants James to come, and Yana's always been friendly with Remus…and lately she's been pretty chummy with Black, too. We should invite them."

"If we invite them, then we have to invite Pettigrew, too." Sara pointed out. "And Yana hates him."

"Well, Yana will just have to deal," Alice said, waving her hand dismissively. "So, those four, us four…anyone else?"

"What about her boyfriend?"

"She doesn't have one. She broke up with him this morning, Black told me," Alice replied, and the other three looked surprised.

"How did Black find out before us?"

"He talked to Jones, apparently. I haven't seen Yana all day."

"Neither have I," Sara agreed. "I wonder what she's up to."

"I dunno, but for now, wherever she is is good. We don't want her walking in on us."

"Oh yeah."

* * *

Khyana had, in fact, gone back to her seventh floor alcove to sit alone and think. So many thoughts were swirling around in her head, she didn't think she'd be able to contain them all.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?"

She looked up, startled, and grinned as she saw Sirius' smiling face.

"Nothing really. What brings you all the way up here?"

"You broke up with Jones this morning."

"Yes, I did."

"Without reason."

"I had my reasons."

"Khyana, did you break up with Jones to go out with me?"

"Cocky, aren't we, Black?" she said, standing, her face unreadable. "If even you have to ask me that, maybe I shouldn't have broken up with him in the first place."

She left the hallway, and Sirius stared after her in dumbfounded disbelief.

* * *

_**A/N:** Well, there you go. There's your drama...more to come...I'm such a drama queen! Oh well...Anyway, I'll try to get the next chapter up very soon, I don't have to work tonight or tomorrow, so I should be able to get a lot done, because I don't have anything else to do, and I will be home by myself, likely...Sunday I have to go to a funeral, so there might not be any more updates for a while after this. Happy Reading! (Wow, I'm cheesy...)_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: A Party**

Over the next week, Khyana avoided Sirius as much as possible so she could sort out her feelings. She wasn't exactly sure why she had said the things to him that she had, but she had said them, and she couldn't take them back. She hadn't broken up with Cam to go out with Sirius…at least, not entirely. She was so confused! Sirius, in a streak of good intentions (or perhaps at Remus' word) didn't bother her, seeming to sense that she needed some time.

On Tuesday, Alice asked Khyana to stay with her over the Christmas holidays, and Khyana had accepted gladly.

"I don't have anywhere else to go," she replied, echoing Sara's words.

Sara and Khyana had made up soon enough, as everyone had known they would. Though they were Slytherins, the two girls were also best friends and could never stay angry with each other for long.

* * *

Kelria, Alice, Lily and Sara continued in their plans for Khyana's party the upcoming Saturday evening. All the guys agreed to come, to their pleasure, and promised to bring snacks and such. The girls only needed to worry about decorations and finding a location.

Lily took care of the latter in good taste.

"Professor McGonagall said we could use her room for the party Saturday, as long as we clean up any mess we make."

"Excellent," Alice grinned. "Good form, Lily!"

Lily grinned. "It was nothing."

Kelria grinned as well. With the party only two days away, things were coming together very nicely. She could hardly wait.

* * *

The day of the party dawned bright and clear, with a newly fallen layer of snow; a perfect day.

"Happy birthday, Yana," Sara said brightly when they awoke.

"Thanks," Khyana replied, yawning widely. She glanced at the end of her bed and sighed.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Yana…" Sara said warningly. "I know you better than that. What's wrong?"

Khyana shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I was hoping one of my family members would remember and send something…but it was a foolish hope."

Sara's face hardened. "They're not your family anymore, Khyana. I am your family. Kelria is your family. Alice and Lily, _they're_ your family, not those idiots who raised you. You've said as much yourself countless times."

"I know," Khyana said, dejected. "But still…"

Sara shook her head. "Come one, we're going to have a snowball fight. Let's go, get your things on."

"A snowball fight? Just the two of us?"

Sara shrugged. "I'm sure Kel and Lil and Alice will come."

Khyana smiled. "Race you to the Great Hall."

The two girls hurriedly pulled their things on and raced down the stairs, through the common room and through the halls to the Great Hall. Khyana, however, ran straight into something on one of the stairways…something that grabbed her arms in a tight grip and wouldn't let go.

"You better watch where you're going, blood-traitor, or you may run into someone not so friendly," a sneering voice said.

Khyana looked up and saw the sneering face of Rabastan Lestrange, and jerked away roughly.

"Friendly?" she sneered. "Hardly, Lestrange."

Lestrange looked menacing. "Watch your tongue, blood-traitor."

Khyana rolled her eyes as Sara caught up with her. "Get lost, Lestrange."

She shoved past him, followed closely by Sara, and tried to act like the encounter hadn't bothered her, but in reality, her day had been ruined.

"Don't let him bother you, Yana, he's so not worth it," Sara said, shooting Lestrange a glare over her shoulder.

Khyana managed a weak smile. "Thanks, Sara."

* * *

The rest of the day was spent outside, playing in the fresh snow. The girls had a snowball fight, Slytherins vs. Gryffindors. The Slytherins won, both because they had more people, and because they were fiercer than the calm Gryffindor girls. Partway through the day, Potter and Co. came out and played, too, and after that the Slytherin girls surrendered against Potter's and Black's fierce playing.

The nine returned to the Great Hall for dinner and collapsed at the Gryffindor table, where other younger students were sitting, doing homework, in the few moments before the food arrived.

"Well, that was an adventure," Lily said, removing her cloak and curling up next to James on the bench.

"It was definitely fun," Khyana agreed, flushed and smiling.

The guys were exchanging insults, but when the food arrived, they all fell silent and attacked the feast.

Lily shook her head, smiling. "Those four eat like the world's going to run out of food."

"Cantebergetnuffood," Sirius replied, grinning and displaying the assortment of food in his mouth.

"Black, that is extremely disgusting," Khyana said, disgusted, shielding him from view with her hands. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

Sirius swallowed in a loud gulp and grinned, winking at her. She shook her head and turned back to her own meal.

"Miss Malfoy."

Khyana looked up and saw a young, blonde girl--probably second or third year--standing before her.

"Yes?"

"I am instructed to give you this. It is from Professor McGonagall."

"Thank you," Khyana said, taking the scroll from the girl, who hurried away.

She unrolled the scroll and read its contents to herself.

_Miss Malfoy,_

_I would like to see you please in my classroom at eight o'clock this evening._

_Sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

"What does it say?" Sara asked, leaning over to read the note over Khyana's shoulder.

"Professor McGonagall wants to see me in her classroom later."

"What time?" Lily asked.

"8." Khyana replied.

A knowing look flickered across Lily's face, but it was only for a quick moment, and then it was gone. Khyana wondered, but then shook it off as a trick of the light.

* * *

At 7:45 that evening, Khyana left her friends in the library, to ensure that she would not be late for Professor McGonagall's appointment. She wandered the hallways, taking her time as she had 15 extra minutes to do whatever she liked. She arrived at the transfiguration classroom at 8:00 on the nose.

When she entered the classroom, however, everything was pitch black, until suddenly there was light, and a chorus of voices shouted "SURPRISE!"

Khyana blinked in the sudden brightness, then laughed when she saw what was going on. Sara, Kelria, Lily and Alice all came over and hugged her tightly, and Khyana hugged them back, still surprised.

"Happy birthday, Khyana," James said, coming over with a grin and shaking her hand.

"Thanks," she replied, grinning back.

Sirius, oddly formal, also shook her hand when he said happy birthday, but Remus forwent formality and hugged her tightly. Peter avoided her altogether, something she was pleased about.

The guys had managed somehow (no one asked how; they seemed to sense they were better off not knowing) to get sweets from Honeydukes and butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks, and the nine of them had an amazing selection of food and such to choose from. Sara ate so much, she had to leave at about 9 30, because she was feeling sick, and nearly threw up all over Peter, who wasn't impressed.

Alice left at about 10 00 with a headache, looking awfully green as well. James and Lily skived off at about 10 30, and no one asked. When 11 00 rolled around, Kelria was yawning so widely they could nearly see down to her stomach, so Remus escorted her out, and at a not-so-subtle look from Sirius, Peter scurried after them.

Khyana was very much aware that now she could not avoid Sirius, and that her friends had left her to do all the cleaning up.

"So, Miss Malfoy."

"So, Mr. Black."

They were standing at opposite ends of the room, but Sirius rectified that problem by moving closer, pretending to pick things up off the floor.

"I have noticed that you've been avoiding me lately. I left you alone at the advice of Remus, who said you needed your space."

Khyana hid her smirk. "I figured it had to have been Remus."

Sirius pretended to look offended. "Are you implying, Miss Malfoy, that I am incapable of thinking for myself?"

"Something like that," Khyana said, grinning teasingly.

Sirius shook his head, pretending disbelief, and moved closer, so they were a hair's breadth away from each other.

"I am insulted that you would think thus of me, Miss Malfoy."

"Thus? Since when does Sirius Black say "thus"?" Khyana asked, picking a piece of chocolate off Sirius' shirt and throwing it on the floor.

"Since Remus says it impresses girls when I use big words like that."

Khyana laughed. "Thus is a four letter word, Sirius, it's not big."

"It's fancy, though," Sirius argued.

Khyana laughed again. "Yes, I suppose it is."

Sirius suddenly turned serious, and his gaze was so intense Khyana had to look away.

She turned her back to him, but didn't go anywhere. He took the opportunity to place a light kiss at the base of her neck, sending shivers up and down her spine.

"Sirius."

She turned back around to face him, and he pulled her close, his hand on the small of her back, and kissed her, deeply and passionately.

She felt like she should object, but couldn't think of a good reason why, nor did she want to pull away, so she kissed him back.

She pulled away after a few moments, to breathe, and he kissed along her neck, just lightly brushing her skin.

"Sirius." She murmured.

"Hm?"

She just sighed. "Nothing."

He gave a small, quiet laugh and then looked at her.

"What did you want to say, Khyana?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to say your name," she said, biting her lower lip.

Sirius' eyes flashed. "You look really cute when you do that."

She blushed furiously and looked at her feet.

'_What is wrong with you?_' she asked herself angrily. _'Malfoy women do _not_ blush_.'

"We should clean up," she said finally, although she didn't really want to move.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed reluctantly. "McGonagall said we had to clean up our mess…"

He waved his wand once, and the room was sparkling again; no trace remained of the party.

He grinned down at her. "I'm talented."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't push it, Black."

He kept grinning, then kissed her again, and she melted.

* * *

**A/N**: _Well, there you have it. We've all been waiting for it...well,_ I_ have, since I love Sirius, and Khyana is my character...Kel, you'll have your turn in a bit...have to develop it a bit...I'll focus on you more in a bit, definitely after Christmas...which is soon! YAY!_


	13. Chapter 13

_Okay, so I got this title from a line in the Phantom of the Opera...I'm lame, I know. Anyway, I'm just letting you know, because the chapter doesn't actually have anything to do with "seething shadows, breathing lies". Well, the shadows maybe...anyway, why are you still reading this!? Get reading the chappie!

* * *

_

**Chapter 13: Seething Shadows, Breathing Lies **

The next few weeks were a flurry of activity. Kelria wondered where the past four months had gone as she packed her trunk for her trip to Alice's. Her mother had given permission for her to spend the holidays at the Thompson house, and she was so excited.

From what she'd heard, Remus, Black and Pettigrew were spending the holidays at the Potters', which was (according to Alice) not very far away. Also, Khyana had just passed her apparition test, the day after her birthday, so she was excited to get back to the real world, where she could apparate.

The last weekend of term had, of course, been a Hogsmeade weekend, but due to some unfortunate circumstances (involving a badly made potion, two third year Slytherin boys and a mad raving Gryffindor seventh year in love (who shall remain anonymous cough Sirius cough)), Khyana, Sara, Kelria, Sirius and James had not been allowed to attend. The four detention regulars took it in stride (along with the lost points), but Kelria was having a harder time digesting the information. While she was in no way a model student, she had never done anything _too_ major, as the consequences at Durmstrang especially had been extremely severe for anyone caught breaking the rules.

So, the five of them sat in the library while everyone else was in Hogsmeade. Lily had insisted that she was only going to grab some things she needed and then come right back, but Alice would hear none of it, and Lily ended up spending the whole day there with her, much to James' annoyance.

* * *

The first day of the holidays was spent in Diagon Alley. The Thompsons traditionally held a masquerade ball the evening of Christmas, and the girls needed costumes. Khyana was quite pleased with one she had found in Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions. It was a pure white robe set with delicate embroidery, and it came with gossamer sky blue wings, and a beautiful white mask. She also bought a tiara, which completed the angelic look perfectly.

For her part, Kelria was having more difficulty. Sara had bought a dark robe set and was going to do some work on it, but refused to say what she was going to turn it into. Lily had found herself a butterfly costume, and Alice had found a random mask and robe set, and claimed that after 17 years, she could make a good costume out of anything.

They had all offered what they thought was helpful advice, but she wanted a "wow factor" costume. She wanted a reaction like the one Khyana had received when she came out of the change room in her costume.

And she finally found it. They were walking past a robe shop that looked like it wasn't visited often, and there it was, in the window.

"Girls, stop!" she called, stopping in front of the window and staring.

"It's gorgeous, Kelria," Lily breathed, looking at it.

"It is pretty, Kel," Khyana agreed.

The robes were a midnight blue, and had delicate silver embroidery around the edges. The mask beside them looked like a peacock costume, almost, and Kelria grinned widely. _This_ was something Remus would notice.

"It's perfect." She said, and entered the shop, exiting a few moments later with the robe set.

"This is going to be so much fun," Alice said.

And Kelria had to agree that, now that she had found these robes, it was indeed looking to be a good party.

* * *

"We're NOT GOING?!"

"Chill, Padfoot, it's not my fault! Only my parents were invited. That doesn't include us."

"We are going to that party, Prongs. If we have to gatecrash it, so be it, but I'm going to be there."

"Chill, Padfoot, I'll talk to my parents about it, okay?"

"You better."

Sirius seethed as James hurried off to talk to his parents. The only reason he was at James' for the holidays and not fixing up his own house was because the Potters' house was a lot closer to the Thompsons' than his. And he wanted to be close to Khyana…he _had_ to go to that party.

* * *

Christmas day dawned bright and clear, and Khyana grinned when she saw the pile of presents at the end of her bed--though considerably smaller than other years--that were addressed to her in her friends' script. She opened them excitedly, as Kelria and Sara woke up and noticed their own piles.

"Happy Christmas," Khyana said cheerfully.

"Happy Christmas," Kelria and Sara replied, opening their own gifts.

They spent the day stuffing their face full of food and playing out in the snow with Lily, Alice and Alice's younger sister Amelia. It was a proper snowball fight this time, as the teams were even, though even with Amelia the Gryffindors were no match for the Slytherin girls.

At about 5 o'clock, the girls headed inside to change into their costumes and get ready for the party.

Kelria and Khyana were definitely the stars of the evening. Lily had a blast playing around with Khyana's long hair, and Alice and Sara pulled Kelria's even longer hair up into an intricate twist.

Khyana's hair was put into ringlets and then pulled back into a loose ponytail with ringlets hanging down. It was quite an attractive look on her.

"You look absolutely gorgeous, girls!" Lily breathed when they were done. "Too bad Sirius and Remus won't be here to see you."

"Oh, but they will," Alice interjected. "Didn't I tell you? Mrs. Potter owled and said the boys were very eager to come, and my mom said they could come too. She thought it very mature of them to ask instead of just showing up."

"Potter and Black, mature?" Sara scoffed. "Yeah right."

Khyana had to agree. Maturity was certainly not a strong suit in Sirius and James.

At 8 o'clock, the girls made their way downstairs to the ballroom, where some adults had already entered and were dancing and talking and laughing. Khyana didn't see her boyfriend anywhere, but that didn't mean anything, he could be under any of these masks.

The girls all made their way into the ballroom, saying polite "hellos" to people as they passed, smiling until their faces hurt and they couldn't smile anymore.

Suddenly, a ruckus by the door brought the girls' attention over that way. They hurried over, and shouldered their way to the front of the crowd to see what was going on.

"Sirius!"

From the floor, Sirius grinned up at Khyana.

"Yana. Hey."

"What are you doing?" Khyana hissed angrily.

Sirius looked at the mess around him then up at her. "Well, I was trying to get a piece of the Yule log, but the table was a little rickety, and it fell on me."

There was a quiet giggle from behind the table and Alice, red in the face, reached back and grabbed something.

"Ow! Alice!"

What appeared at the end of Alice's arm was a small boy that Khyana recognised as her younger brother, Theo.

"I suppose you think you're funny do you?" Alice demanded quietly. "Apologise to Mr. Black immediately."

"It's not big, Alice, really-" Sirius began, but Khyana cut him off with a glare.

"I said apologise, Theo." Alice said sternly.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Black," Theo said, sounding anything but contrite.

"It's okay, Theo. Just stay out of trouble, okay?" Sirius said, using his wand to clean the mess off himself.

"Bit rich, coming from you, wasn't that?" Khyana asked after the crowd had dispersed and Theo had been sent to bed by his very embarrassed mother.

"What?"

"Stay out of trouble."

Sirius awarded her a goofy grin. "Yes, maybe it was, but I bet he listens."

"I bet he doesn't."

Sirius shook his head. "I don't want to argue, Yana, it's Christmas!"

Khyana smiled. "Yes, that it is. Happy Christmas, Sirius."

"Happy Christmas, Yana."

"I have something for you…I should have sent it earlier, but I only just got it…anyway, come with me."

Khyana led Sirius upstairs to the empty hallway outside the room she was sharing with Sara and Lily.

"Wait here," she ordered, and disappeared into the room, appearing a moment later with a parcel. "Here. Happy Christmas."

Sirius was grinning, and as he opened the parcel his grin widened.

"Whoa, Yana! This is awesome!"

Against her better judgement, Khyana had gotten Sirius a wizard joke book, complete with big pranks for him to play on people with his friends.

"There's a rule that comes with this book, though, Sirius."

"What's that?"

"You can't pull any of these pranks on me."

"Deal," Sirius said, grinning. "And now, fair lady Khyana, I have something for you as well."

Sirius reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, which Khyana took gingerly.

"Don't worry, it won't explode," Sirius said, looking a little uncomfortable. "Just open it."

Khyana opened the box slowly and gasped when she saw what was inside it.

"Wow, Sirius! This is beautiful. It must have cost you a fortune."

"Never ask the price of a gift, Yana, it's bad form."

"I wasn't going to," Khyana said defensively, removing the delicate necklace from its holding. "It really is beautiful, Sirius."

She played with the clasp until she got it unhooked and held the turquoise stone against her chest. The jewels sparkled in the candlelight, the turquoise and diamonds making designs on the wall.

As she fumbled with the clasp behind her neck, she felt Sirius' hands take it from her and close it. He then kissed her lightly, and put his arms around her waist.

"I'm glad you like it. You look beautiful," he said.

"I love it, Sirius," Khyana agreed, then turned to face him and kissed him, and he pulled her close.

* * *

Kelria was feeling acutely uncomfortable. Peter, sitting at the table with her, was becoming increasingly drunk and was attempting to put some moves over on her, which made her disgusted. Finally, thoroughly appalled, she threw a hex at him and left the table.

"Hey, Kelria, what's wrong?" Remus asked, coming over, noting her face.

"Your rat friend over there is trying to flirt with me," she said angrily, jerking her finger over her shoulder at Peter, who was rolling on the floor, clutching himself and moaning.

"What did you do to him?" Remus asked, looking concerned.

Kelria shrugged. "I don't know, threw a random hex at him."

Remus hid his grin.

"You never cease to surprise me, Kelria Song."

Kelria shrugged. "I don't pride myself on being predictable, if that's what you're implying."

He shook his head. "No, no, that's not what I meant at all. I just meant…oh, never mind!"

Kelria smiled. It was amusing to confuse boys.

"So, are you enjoying the party?" Remus asked finally, breaking the awkward silence.

Kelria shrugged. "It's not bad. A little boring, and all my friends have deserted me, but not too bad."

"Well, the boring part we can rectify. Would you like to dance?"

Kelria looked slightly taken aback. "I don't dance." She replied imperiously.

"You do now," Remus replied, grabbing her hand and dragging her onto the dance floor, oblivious to her protests.

* * *

Sara surveyed the party room, bored and annoyed. Kelria was off dancing with Remus, Lily and James had disappeared, and Khyana had also disappeared somewhere with Sirius. Sara didn't even want to think about that. Alice was off playing hostess, which left Sara alone. With nothing to do, around 11 o'clock, she headed up to bed, annoyed.

When she reached her room, she lit a candle, but it blew out immediately, and she noticed that the window was open.

"That's weird," she said aloud. "I didn't leave the window open."

"No, you didn't," a deep voice agreed. "I opened it."

Sara whirled around, and found herself facing the end of a wand.

"Any final words?"

* * *

Khyana finally pulled away, and looked at Sirius, a goofy grin on her face. They had moved from the hall outside Khyana's room to a larger room down the hall, but they were still within range to hear a loud thump and something breaking.

They both jumped up and went into the hall, looking around wildly.

"What the hell…?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know." Khyana said. "I'm going to check the room."

"I'll check these ones," Sirius said, indicating the rooms down the opposite way from Khyana's room.

"Okay."

Khyana made her way cautiously toward her room, all her senses alert. As she entered her room, she was acutely aware of the darkness, and a chill wind. She looked to the window and saw that it was open. She shivered, then lit the end of her wand with a whispered "_lumos_."

She made her way slowly around the large room, looking in the bathroom and checking the entire floor space. She found nothing until she approached the beds. What she saw made her drop her wand, screaming.

* * *

Kelria, still dancing with Remus, heard the scream the same as everyone else in the room.

"That's Yana!" she cried, and hurried out of the ballroom followed closely by Remus.

When they reached the girls' room, Sirius had beat them there, and was holding a sobbing Khyana.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God." Khyana was muttering.

Kelria looked at Sirius, confused, but Sirius' face was unreadable. He merely nodded to Khyana's bed.

Kelria made her way over slowly, glancing back at Sirius and Remus.

When she reached the bed, she stopped dead and stared, all colour draining out of her face.

Lying on the bed, was Sara's body, white and cold, and completely lifeless.

* * *

_WOW! Okay, a little dramatic there...but I liked it! AWE SARA'S DEAD! I feel so bad about it! But it makes for a great story...unfortunately. Oh, and on the side, I do NOT condone getting drunk...but it fit in the story at the time, so that's why Peter gets drunk...UGH! Certain people PISS ME OFF! Do you find that? Certain people who's initials are JT, and they are the second and third oldest of 6...Do you find that, Kel? Will tell the whole story later, just had to vent! Love you!_


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Rules and Regulations**

The aurors arrived the next day to investigate, though, as they said, it was pretty useless. Sara's family were the prime suspects, but charging them would not solve anything, because no one knew where the Wilkeses lived.

Khyana walked in halfway through the aurors' overview of the room, looking bleary-eyed and tired. Her whole face was red and puffy, and her hair and pyjamas were rumpled.

"It wasn't the Wilkeses." She said softly.

"Pardon me?"

Khyana looked at Mr. Potter and repeated her statement.

"It wasn't the Wilkeses."

"Then who was it?" Mr. Potter asked, sounding as though he were humouring a small child.

"This has Lucius written all over it. The surprise attack, placing her on my bed and not her own…this was my brother. And he wanted me."

The room fell still at this statement, as the weight of Khyana's words settled on everyone.

"Girls, take Miss Malfoy away, please," Mr. Potter said brusquely to Lily, Alice and Kelria. "Miss Malfoy, we will take your words to heart and consider them in our investigation. Until further notice, you are not to go anywhere unless accompanied by an auror, is that understood?"

Khyana shrugged listlessly. "If he wants me bad enough, no amount of armoured guards is going to keep him from me, Mr. Potter."

Kelria took Khyana's arm and led her out of the room, still upset herself. The four friends went to Alice's room, where they had slept the night before, and sat themselves down in the various chairs set out.

"I can't believe Sara's dead…Merlin." Alice whispered. "It's horrible."

"Yeah," Lily agreed, and they fell into an awkward silence.

Khyana was taking it the hardest. Now she really was alone in the world. Sure, she had Lily and Alice and Kelria, but they just didn't understand. They didn't understand what it was like to be alienated by their families and forced to live in secrecy, always watching your back…

'_But someone understands,_' a little voice inside her said. '_Sirius understands_."

Suddenly the spacious room was too confining, Khyana needed air. And she needed to see Sirius.

"I'm going for a walk."

"You're not supposed to go anywhere without an auror." Alice objected.

Khyana shrugged, not caring. "Like I told James' dad. If Lucius wants me bad enough, he'll find me. For now, I think I'm safe, he thinks he killed me last night. Until he finds out that it was Sara and not me, I'm not in any danger."

Alice still looked unsure, but Khyana left without giving her more chance to object.

"I'll be back before you know I'm gone."

She left the house without encountering any aurors, and made her way down the road, toward where she knew the Potters' house was. She could have apparated, but she needed to fresh air.

An hour later, she reached the Potters' front porch, covered in snow and freezing. She hadn't bothered to grab a cloak on her way out of the Thompsons', but she didn't even feel the cold. She was numb anyway.

She knocked on the door, and a smiling woman answered the door.

"Hello, dear, can I help you?"

"Yes, I'd like to see Sirius, please," Khyana said, her voice emotionless.

Mrs. Potter looked shocked, looking at Khyana in her pyjamas with no cloak.

"Oh my dear, you must be freezing-"

"Not really."

"-please, come in and sit by the fire. I'll get Sirius for you."

"I'd rather stay out here, if you don't mind." Khyana said in that same emotionless voice. She didn't want comfort at the moment.

Mrs. Potter didn't look like she liked that idea much, but nodded and called "Sirius! There's someone here to see you!" up the stairs behind her.

Sirius appeared a moment later, and looked both surprised and happy to see her.

"Yana, hey!"

Mrs. Potter looked back at her quickly. "Are you Khyana Malfoy?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Aren't you supposed to stay with an auror?"

Khyana shrugged yet again. "I suppose so."

"Sirius, you take this girl straight back to the Thompsons'. She's not supposed to be here! And get her a cloak, for Merlin's sake."

Mrs. Potter disappeared, and Sirius' grin faded.

"How are you?"

"I'll live."

Sirius swore. "Merlin, Khyana, that was a dumb question, of course you're feeling horrible. I'm so sorry."

"Like I said, I'll live. Provided Lucius doesn't find me."

"Is that who did it then?"

"I say so. I don't think the aurors believed me, though."

"If you say it was Lucius, it was Lucius."

"I'm going to kill him, Sirius."

"No, you're not. Just hush."

"Honest. I'm going to hunt him down, and I'm going to make him pay. She was my best friend, Sirius."

Sirius looked troubled as he pulled her into a tight embrace.

"You're freezing, Yana! Did you walk here?"

She nodded.

Sirius gaped at her. "Come inside, Yana. You're not going anywhere until you're warmed up. I'll not have you getting sick."

He tried to lead Khyana into the house, but she put up a good fight.

"I don't feel the cold, Sirius. I don't feel anything. And I don't want comforts or charity. I just want to walk with you."

"Hey, Padfoot, did you see the paper-"

Peter stopped dead halfway down the stairs, and stared at Khyana, his eyes wide.

"Never mind."

"What's in the paper, Wormtail?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing, forget I said anything."

"Wormtail." Sirius growled dangerously, and Peter scurried down the stairs and handed him the paper.

Khyana sneered at him, and he raced off again. She never could quite understand why Sirius, Remus and James put up with that rat…

"Oh Merlin," Sirius murmured.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said hiding the paper behind his back.

Khyana sighed, then thought '_Accio paper_,' and flicked her wand, and the paper flew out of Sirius' hand into her own.

Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the story on the front page. There were two pictures, one of the Thompson home with the Dark Mark hovering over it, and one of Sara's body on Khyana's bed. She couldn't even read the story, merely handed the paper back to Sirius mutely.

"I'm so sorry, Yana."

Khyana shrugged. "They were bound to find out sooner or later. I guess Lucius knows now that I'm alive."

"I guess he does."

There was an awkward silence following Sirius' agreement.

"I should get you back to Alice's, now that Lucius knows you're not dead. Mr. Potter won't be happy that you're gone."

Khyana nodded.

"I suppose not." It didn't occur to her to ask how everyone in the house knew that she was supposed to be accompanied by an auror, when Mr. Potter had only told her that a few hours ago, at the spur of the moment.

Sirius grabbed two cloaks from the closet, put one on, and put the other around Khyana's shoulders. She didn't resist, but neither did she welcome the warmth.

"Come on," Sirius said, putting his arm around her shoulder and leaving the house.

They walked in silence for about half an hour. Neither knew what to say, and Khyana was not feeling especially social.

Suddenly, Khyana stopped walking.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked, concerned.

"Someone's here," Khyana whispered.

"Who?"

Khyana shook her head. "I don't know."

"Well, I'm not taking any chances. We're apparating back to the Thompsons', right now."

Khyana suddenly stiffened. "It's Lucius."

Sirius grabbed her hand and spun on the spot. Khyana felt the usual pull and suddenly the forest faded, and they were in the Thompsons' spacious lawn.

"I'll see you inside," Sirius said, leading her quickly to the door.

When they entered the house, they found it in an uproar. An auror near the door grabbed Khyana by the shoulders and shook her.

"Where have you been, girl? We've been looking everywhere for you! Didn't Potter tell you you always have to be with an auror?"

Sirius, his face dangerous, grabbed the auror by the shoulder and removed her hands from Khyana's shoulders.

"Never touch my girlfriend like that again, do you understand?" he said in a low, dangerous voice.

The auror glared at him, then hurried off to find Mr. Potter.

"Are you okay?" Sirius asked, placing his hands on Khyana's shoulders gently.

She nodded. "Thank you."

Sirius shrugged. "What kind of boyfriend would I be if I allowed people to manhandle you like that?"

Khyana tried to smile, but failed miserably, and the result was that her face looked horrible and dangerous. Sirius didn't doubt for a moment that she truly was a Malfoy, and that she was going to inflict serious harm on her brother.

"Miss Malfoy."

Khyana and Sirius both turned toward the voice, and saw Mr. Potter, cool and collected, approaching.

"Sirius," he said, inclining his head.

"Sir," Sirius replied, nodding his head in kind.

"Thank you for bringing Miss Malfoy back. Khyana, you had us all worried. Please understand, I place this restriction on you for your own safety, not to inconvenience you. You should have at least told your friends where you were going so they wouldn't have been so worried."

"I apologise for scaring everyone," Khyana said, though she looked anything but contrite. "I simply needed to get out for some fresh air." She sneezed.

Sirius glared at her, then looked at Mr. Potter. "She walked all the way to your place without a cloak of any kind, Mr. Potter."

Mr. Potter looked at Khyana sadly. "I cannot reprimand her for that; it is not my place. However, Miss Malfoy, for the sake of those who care about you, I would ask that you have a care for your own wellbeing."

"That's what I've been trying to tell her!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Thank you, Sirius, that will quite do. You may return home."

Khyana didn't look at Sirius as he placed a light kiss on her head, spun on the spot, and disapparated.

"Now, Miss Malfoy, I think we shall return upstairs and show your friends that you are indeed still alive, and then I would like to have a word with you, if you don't mind."

Khyana followed Mr. Potter back to Alice's room, where she was engulfed in tight hugs from her three friends.

"Where did you go, Yana?" Alice demanded, worry making her sharper than usual.

"I went to the Potters' to see Sirius," she replied quietly.

"Sirius is more important that us, is he?" Alice demanded.

Khyana gave her a sad look. "No. But Sirius is in the same situation as me. I just needed to talk to him."

Alice blushed and mumbled an apology.

"Miss Malfoy?"

Khyana said goodbye to her friends and followed Mr. Potter out of the room, down to Alice's father's study, which the aurors had taken over for their investigation.

"So, Miss Malfoy, you think your brother committed this atrocity?"

"Yes, sir."

"And why do you think this?"

"Because none of Sara's family are Death Eaters, so they wouldn't have put up the Dark Mark over the house if it had been them."

"How do you know none of them have become Death Eaters since you two ran away?" Mr. Potter asked.

Khyana shrugged. "They were in favour of Voldemort's actions, but not enough so to join him. The only ones in the family who would join him would be Sara's younger brother and sister, who are in their second and fourth years respectively. Voldemort doesn't want children, he wants witches and wizards."

Mr. Potter nodded. "That's a fair explanation. Very well, we shall charge your brother with this murder. I think it would be best if you stayed in the house the remainder of the Christmas holidays though, Miss Malfoy. And I am going to post one of my aurors here."

"Yes, sir."

"Will you abide by my wishes, Miss Malfoy?"

"As much as it is in my power to do so." Khyana replied.

Mr. Potter nodded again. "Thank you. You may go."

Khyana left the room, thinking. Her life would never be the same after this…and she was just going to have to get used to it.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, there's that. The next chapter will be Kelria's perspective on Sara's death...and possibly other random thoughts of hers, I haven't decided yet. Anyway, I prolly won't get the next chp up for a bit, because I'm working tonight (UGH! Oh well, no JT's for me! Lol, poor Kel has to put up with them...3 of them:P). And like I said before, I'm going to a funeral tomorrow...and I'll prolly have to work Monday, too, so I'll have to see how that goes.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: Moving On**

Kelria watched Khyana leave the room, claiming she was going for a walk, and wondered what the blonde had up her sleeve. She didn't really expect the headstrong girl to cooperate with Potter's rules, and she was not disappointed.

"I can't believe Sara's really dead," Alice finally said quietly.

"I know," Lily agreed.

Kelria found herself annoyed with these two, going around and around in circles with their conversation, and suddenly she couldn't be in the room anymore.

"I'm going to write a letter. I'll see you girls later."

She left the room, and walked to one of the empty rooms to think.

Sara was dead. She was going to kill whoever had killed her. If it really had been Lucius, he was a dead man, especially with both Kelria and Khyana after him. Despite the fact that he was a Death Eater, Kelria was going to hunt him down, and when she found him, she was going to kill him, no questions asked.

"Will that make me a murderer?" She asked quietly, then found that she didn't really even care. If it meant avenging her friend, she would do it.

She sighed sadly. Sara's death had certainly had a huge impact on everyone, and how could it not? She had been an amazing, vibrant young woman, and Kelria had considered her a good friend.

Khyana had been the most affected by Sara's death, though. The once loud, cocky, smug, headstrong girl was now quiet, listless and emotionless. It broke Kelria's heart to see her friend that way.

She waved her wand once, twice, and a piece of parchment, quill and inkpot appeared in front of her. She uncorked the inkpot, dipped the quill in, and began her letter.

_Dearest Khyana,_

_I can only imagine what you must be going through right now. Sara was a good friend of mine, but my friendship with her would never be the same as yours was. She was an amazing person, and so are you. I do not pretend to be an expert on the subject of death and mourning, nor do I ever hope to be one, but I do know this: Sara would not want you to mourn her for too long. She would want you to go on living your life, being happy and living to the fullest. Please do not think I am trying to undermine her death by saying these things, or that I'm pretending to know her better than I did, but I really do feel that this is what she would want. Please think on it, Khyana._

_Love_

_Kelria_

She rolled the parchment up into a scroll, sealed it, and then just say back and relaxed. Writing the letter had been harder than she'd thought, had taken longer than she'd expected. And while she was sitting there, she made a decision. She needed to tell Khyana about her condition, and soon, because it wasn't fair to the blonde to keep her in the dark any longer. Kelria could feel her problem getting worse and worse with every passing day, and she was becoming a danger to Khyana, and to Alice and Lily. If she didn't tell Khyana soon, she might do serious damage to her friend. Khyana needed to be told…but not right now, not while the pain of Sara's death was still so fresh.

Kelria finally made her way back to Alice's room, and found the hallways in chaos.

"What's wrong?" she asked an auror.

"Miss Malfoy's missing."

"Yeah, she went for a walk," Kelria said, frowning.

The auror blinked. "She did? She didn't tell anyone."

"No, I know," Kelria replied, starting to get annoyed. "Why can't you people just leave her alone? She's grieving, don't you get that? She just needed some time to herself, to get out of the house!"

The auror's eyes narrowed. "You better watch how you speak to me, young lady. I will not be disrespected like that."

Kelria rolled her eyes, but held her tongue. Clearly, this auror was a little touchy about his position of power…she decided she didn't like aurors who took their power positions too seriously…they should be shot. They were here to protect people, not to be superior to everyone.

She reached Alice's room a few moments before Khyana did, and hugged her friend tight when she entered the room.

"How are you?" she whispered.

"I'll live," Khyana whispered back.

Khyana was then taken away with Mr. Potter, and Alice turned to Lily and Kelria. "We're going to have to have a funeral for Sara."

"No we don't," Kelria said firmly.

"We'll have to bury her," Alice argued.

"We'll talk to Khyana," Lily decided. "Whatever she wants. She was Sara's best friend."

"We should tell Sara's family," Alice said.

Kelria and Lily gaped at her.

"Are you out of your mind, Alice? We can't have Sara's family there! They might kill Khyana! Or, if we invite them, they might tell the other Death Eaters about it, and then we'll have Death Eaters showing up! Do you want that?" Kelria demanded.

Alice didn't seem to have thought of this, and shrugged.

"Whatever you say. It was just a suggestion."

Kelria shook her head. Alice must have been out of her mind to even suggest such a thing.

* * *

Over the next few days, Kelria watched Khyana like a hawk, making sure her friend was still functioning properly.

The rest of the Christmas vacation was long and dull for Kelria. Sara's death left a dark cloud over everyone, and no one seemed to be in the mood to have fun. Also, Khyana couldn't go anywhere without her auror guard (who was a boring, strict, unrelenting man who didn't like "loud, annoying children", as he called the girls. He also seemed to think this assignment was below him, and was insulting his abilities, which made for a very gloomy holidays.)

Kelria was only too happy to get back to school when the time came. The train ride back was fairly quiet, which annoyed Kelria, because she had spent the entire last week and a half of the holidays in silence, so she decided to go for a walk to get away from the stifling silence of the compartment.

When she had walked about halfway down the hall, she heard her name shouted behind her. She turned and saw Remus hurrying to catch up with her, and she smiled.

"Hey, Remus."

"Hey, Kelria. What's going on?"

Kelria shrugged. "I just had to get away from that silence. We've spent the last week and a half in silence, and I just couldn't stand it anymore."

Remus nodded. "I'm not in that position, but I think I understand. We can stay out here for a while if you like."

Kelria nodded, grinning. "I'd like that."

Remus smiled, nodding. "Great. Sounds like a plan to me."

* * *

**A/N:** _Alright, I know it's short, but I ran out of ideas...Kelria is hard to write about! Cuz she's such a confusing person, and I can't give too much away yet...Khyana is much easier. Anyway, I'm glad JT made you laugh...a little weird, and totally our of character...I think he likes you:P, what with last week and then again last night...interesting. Okay, sorry, maybe a little too forward there...but yeah, but that's just Tim, isn't it? And I didn't get to hear your whole story, we were so rudely interrupted by that stupid person who came through the drive thru...headsets are a curse, I'm telling you! LOL I love how we're having a conversation on here...if we were normal people, we'd talk on the phone, or MSN, or even e-mail...but we're authors, so we don't! LOL. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow in Anthro...didn't do my homework! Was too busy working on this...oh, and I don't think Cheryle was very happy with me after you left last night lol. But anyway, I'll ttyl! And to everyone else who reviewed (which would be Kendra-the hyper one) thank you! I love reviews, they honestly keep me going! Thanks! and sorry for all the confusing messages on here...I digress lol._


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: A Routine**

Getting back to school proved to be more difficult than Khyana had expected. Those who had not been at the party or whose parents had not been at the party had heard about the incident from those who had been, and everyone at school seemed to know about it.

The whispers followed Khyana wherever she went, and she soon settled into a strict routine that she followed to the letter, in order to keep herself from thinking too hard about Sara. When she woke in the morning, she had a shower, then went to breakfast. On Mondays and Wednesdays, she had a spare first period, and would spend the time in the library finishing any extra work for the next period, or just studying. When she went to classes that she had had with Sara, she stared straight ahead, never glancing to the side, for fear she would see Sara's empty seat and start crying. During breaks, she would again spend all her time in the library studying or doing work, or getting help with any subject that needed her extra attention. During dinner breaks, she would eat as slowly as possible, not saying anything to anyone except to give short, one word answers to any questions posed to her.

She barely spoke anymore, and never smiled. No matter how hard Kelria and Sirius tried, they couldn't get her to smile.

The routine annoyed her friends, especially Sirius and Kelria, because they hardly ever saw her anymore.

Finally, Sirius had had enough.

"Khyana, I need to speak to you."

She looked at him with her hollow grey eyes…those eyes that used to be so full of life and laughter…the eyes that are dead now.

"Not now, Sirius. Later."

"No, now."

Sirius sat down beside her at the table and pushed her papers away, took her quill from her hand.

"Sirius, give me back my quill," she said, but she lacked the conviction.

"Fight me for it."

"I don't want to fight you, Sirius."

"Fight me, damn it Khyana!"

Khyana stared at him, standing beside her. She saw the hurt look on his face, but had to look away. There was nothing she could do.

"I…I can't fight you, Sirius." She said, very quietly.

Sirius now had tears streaming down his face.

"Khyana…please."

"I have to go, Sirius."

Khyana stood and, taking everything but the quill Sirius was still holding, left the library.

"Who are you?" Sirius asked, grabbing her arm on her way out. "I don't even know you anymore."

"No, Sirius," she agreed. "I do not know myself."

* * *

Kelria watched the exchange between Sirius and Khyana from a distance, then watched as Sirius collapsed in Khyana's now vacant chair, sobbing. She felt a tug on her heart, but there was nothing she could do about it. They had to solve this problem themselves.

She had her own problem to deal with, and that was the problem of Remus Lupin. Her problem was getting progressively worse, and she was hard pressed now to hide it. Her mother had warned her that it would get worse as she got older, but she did not think it would be like this…not this bad. Curses on her father…every curse she could think of. Not death. Death was too good for him…far too good.

She left the library, not wanting to sit and watch Sirius break down any longer. If she did, she would end up hitting Khyana, because the blonde had done this…no, she reminded herself. Yes, a blonde had done it, but it wasn't Khyana. It was Lucius, and she was going to kill him as soon as she got a chance…he wouldn't stand a chance against her. No sir, she was going to prepare…and when she found him, he would regret ever killing her friend.

Wandering aimlessly in the hallways, she felt like Khyana, always wandering with no destination. Nothing to look forward to…

As she rounded a corner, she hit something very solid, and she fell to the floor.

"Omph."

"Kelria?"

"Remus! What are you doing up here?"

Remus looked around. "Where am I?"

"Seventh floor." Kelria replied, standing and brushing herself off. She offered Remus her hand, and he grasped it and she pulled him to his feet.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"How are you?"

Kelria shrugged. "I've been better. But I'm not as bad as Khyana."

"Somehow, I don't think anyone is as bad as Khyana."

"Me either."

"Lily and Alice have gotten over it."

"Yes, they have."

There followed an awkward silence in which a million thoughts flew through Kelria's head.

"Sirius is taking this bad, too."

"Because he likes Khyana, and she's hurting and she won't have anything to do with him."

"Yeah…I feel bad for him."

"So do I. He wants her back, I can see it."

"Yes, that he does."

"They were arguing in the library…well, Sirius was yelling at Yana to fight him, and she just sat there with that sad, hollow look on her face, and then she left…and he started crying. I've never seen anyone so broken."

"Death leaves us all broken."

"Yes, that it does…I'm going to kill Lucius for doing this to us."

Kelria found it hard to continue; her voice was choked with tears. She hadn't cried since Sara had died, she wasn't a big crier…she knew Khyana hadn't cried either. It wasn't in her nature to show emotion like that.

Suddenly, Kelria was sobbing, and Remus was holding her, and she was clinging to him for dear life.

"Hush, Kelria, it's okay. It's okay, I've got you. Sh."

Kelria didn't say anything, just clung to him, and he kissed the top of her head, and hugged her back.

"It's okay, it's okay."

'_Keep telling me it's okay, and maybe I'll believe you,_' Kelria thought. _'Please. Just keep saying it…_'

* * *

Khyana wandered the halls aimlessly, listlessly.

'_Who are you? I don't even know you anymore…_'

Sirius' words refused to leave her head, to leave her in peace.

'_I was right,_' she thought. _'I do not know myself_.'

She remembered Kelria's letter, and knew that the older girl had been right. Sara would not have wanted her to mourn like this. Not like this. A little mourning, traditional grieving, yes. But not this total withdrawal, not this complete loss of identity.

Suddenly, she knew what she had to do.

She walked briskly back to the library, to where Sirius was sitting, crying, and snapped the quill out of his hand.

He looked up, totally confused and surprised.

She smiled, and then laughed.

"I fought you for it, Sirius."

He grinned, then laughed too, and caught her up in a tight embrace, kissing her.

"Welcome back, Khyana," he said, then laughed again, and kissed her.

* * *

**A/N:** _I know, another short one...I'm sorry, but I promise they will get longer. This was kind of a sad one...I watched Wuthering Heights before I wrote it...so that's why. Oh, I'm thinking of writing a few more fics after this one, because I've decided I like Kelria and Khyana. I was going to do one of mostly Kel and Remus with a little bit of Yana and Sirius, up until the Potters' death, and then do one of Khyana after Sirius' arrest...which, I must admit, will be excellent. I've already started it...but so far, it's awfully dark...again, it's that whole Wuthering Heights...MAN I HATE HEATHCLIFF! Sorry. Wuthering Heights, for those of you who don't know the story. It's a very sad story:(. Anyway, if you want me to do those other fics I will, but if not...well, I'll prolly still write them, but just for my own enjoyment. Anyway, now I'm very tired and I have a horrible headache, so I'm off to bed! Night!_


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: Midnight Escapades**

February dawned bright and cold and found two couples walking hand in hand by the lake, in their warmest cloaks, freezing but having fun.

"I can't believe we're doing this," the blonde girl giggled.

"You needed an adventure. You've been too quiet for the past month." Her partner replied.

"Understandably so," the other boy added, "But both of you needed to get out."

"At midnight on the coldest night of the year?" the redheaded girl asked teasingly.

"That's the best time," the boy beside her teased, kissing the top of her head.

Khyana laughed. "You two are nuts."

"Yes, we are," Sirius agreed, grinning at her. "But you love us anyway."

Khyana hit him, and then pulled her hand out of his and ran away, laughing. "Catch me if you can!"

Kelria and Remus laughed as they watched the two running, Sirius trying to catch the ever elusive Khyana.

"See, I told you it'd be fun," Remus said, grinning.

"If one of the teachers catch us, we're going to be in so much trouble," Kelria argued.

"But it'll be worth it," Remus replied, "if only to see that."

He pointed to where Khyana and Sirius were lying in the snow, making snow angels.

"After her moody silence of late, it's good to see her laughing again."

"Yes, that it is," Kelria agreed. "Come on, I want to make a snow angel too!"

She and Remus hurried over to join their friends in the snow, and she laughed with pure joy. Having Khyana back to her normal self was amazing enough, but being with Remus was absolutely wonderful. She never expected it, but after that day in the hall…well, things just went uphill from there.

Plopping herself down in the snow, Kelria lay down beside Khyana and proceeded to make the most demented snow angel any of them had ever seen. When she stood up, Remus was doubled over laughing, and asked, "Kel, what is that supposed to be?"

Looking back at it, Kelria also started laughing. The wings were oddly shaped, as though one was heavier than the other, and the part at the bottom that was meant to be the angel's robe looked more like demented bellbottom pants that hadn't been made properly. Her legs had never actually touched when she was making the angel, so while the outside edge was quite wide, the inside was straight.

Standing up with the help of Sirius, Khyana promptly fell back over, laughing wildly.

"Sh, you'll wake one of the teachers!" Sirius hissed.

"This…coming from…you?" Khyana gasped.

"Yes, this coming from me. Seriously, you three, be quiet!"

"Well, I never thought I'd see the day when Sirius Black told someone else to be quiet." Khyana teased, kissing his lightly on the cheek.

Sirius grabbed her round the waist and swung her around. "Well, Miss Malfoy, there's a first time for everything."

"Indeed there is," Khyana agreed with a grin.

"We're going to be so tired tomorrow," Kelria said, giggling. "I can see it now. Can you imagine McGonagall if we fall asleep in her class?"

Khyana giggled too. "Oh, that would be so funny. We'd get detention for a year!"

"We're only here for another 4 months, Khyana, she can't very well give us detention for a year."

There was a long silence following these words.

"Four months," Khyana said quietly. "We only have four months left."

"Let's not think about that," Sirius suggested hastily, shooting Remus a quick glare. "I don't think that's quite the point Remus was trying to make."

"No, not really," Remus hastily agreed.

As much as the four tried to renew the atmosphere of earlier, there was no saving the mood now that Remus and, subsequently, Khyana, had soured it. Khyana announced shortly thereafter that she was feeling tired, and went to bed, followed closely by Kelria and the boys.

"Way to go, Moony," Sirius hissed as the two boys walked along quietly back to their common room.

"It's not my fault! Khyana's the one who got all upset about it!"

"You're the one who brought it up," Sirius countered.

"But I didn't mean it like that, I was merely pointing out-"

"Never mind, Moony. I'm just glad Khyana and Kelria had fun."

Remus looked annoyed at having been interrupted, but grasped the new topic eagerly, glad to be out from under Sirius' microscope.

"So am I. It did them both some good."

"Yeah, it did, didn't it?"

"Yep."

They fell into a comfortable silence, and in this way made their way back to their dormitory and fell asleep quickly.

* * *

The next morning, Kelria's prediction of the night before proved true. None of the four could keep their eyes open, and they did indeed fall asleep in Professor McGonagall's class.

"I have never, in all my years, seen such nonsense," she said, after having dismissed the rest of the class. "You will all serve detention with me this coming Saturday evening, no, no complaining, Mr. Black. The four of you will report to my office at precisely 8 o'clock for your detention, is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," the four friends intoned, and Khyana and Kelria were hard pressed to contain their laughter. "We'll be there."

"See that you are." Professor McGonagall agreed, returning to her marking. "You are dismissed."

As soon as they left the office, Khyana and Kelria both burst out in giggles.

"I don't see what's so funny…" Remus said, confused. He and Sirius exchanged lost looks.

"Nothing," Kelria gasped, "We're just tired."

Sirius and Remus shook their heads.

"Maybe you girls should go to bed."

Khyana shook her head. "We have double potions next. We can't miss that."

Remus nodded his agreement. "She's right, Padfoot, they can't miss that."

"But after that, we don't have any classes the rest of the day, so we can sleep then," Kelria added. "And then we'll be up all night again."

Khyana giggled and nodded. "Yes ma'am, that we will."

The two girls collapsed into giggles again.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you two were drunk," Sirius said, looking them over.

"How do you know we're not?" Khyana asked, a teasing glint in her eyes.

"If you are, I'll kill you," Remus replied seriously.

"Okay," Khyana replied. "We're not. Just tired. Oh Merlin, I'm _so_ tired! That is the _last_ time I let you two take me out all night!"

"Unless we can sleep all the next day," Kelria added.

"Right," Khyana agreed.

Remus and Sirius shook their heads.

"You two are nuts," Sirius announced, putting his arm around Khyana's waist.

"Thank you, you are too kind," Khyana replied teasingly.

Sirius shook his head. "I don't think we should allow these two in the potions room, Moony, they might knock something over."

"Likely," Remus agreed. "But there's not much we can do about that. We'll just have to keep a close eye on them."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, and the four friends headed down to the dungeons together, all feeling tired and barely able to keep their eyes open.

* * *

Two weeks later, Khyana and Sirius could be found in the library finishing a potions essay in a back corner.

"I have a surprise for you," Sirius said suddenly.

"Oh you do?" Khyana asked, not looking up from her essay. "What is it?"

"You have to come with me."

"No way," Khyana replied vehemently. "I _told_ you I wasn't going on anymore midnight adventures with you."

"It's not midnight yet," Sirius pointed out. "It's only 9. I promise I will have you home before midnight…well, unless you decide you actually do want to stay out later. And besides, tomorrow's Sunday, you can sleep as much as you want."

Khyana regarded him coolly over the top of her glasses.

"Very well, Sirius, I'll come, but I'll hold you to your promise. No later than midnight."

"Deal," Sirius replied with a grin.

He stood up, grabbed Khyana's hand, and walked with her out of the library.

"Sirius, we left our stuff in there!" Khyana cried suddenly.

"That's alright, it'll still be there when we get back," Sirius replied.

"But the library won't be open when we get back, Sirius!" Khyana reminded him.

"You worry too much, Yana. Just trust me, okay?"

Khyana sighed. "Very well, if I must," she replied teasingly.

Sirius grinned, but didn't reply.

A few moments later, they reached a corridor that Khyana didn't recognise.

"Where are we?" she asked.

Sirius just grinned, and approached a portrait of a bowl of fruit.

"Sirius, I'm sorry, but a bowl of fruit doesn't really appeal to me," Khyana said, barely keeping the sarcasm out of her voice. "If this is what you wanted to show me…what the?"

Her last exclamation came when Sirius reached out and tickled the pear in the portrait, which then turned into a doorknob. He grabbed the doorknob, opened a door that had appeared out of nowhere, grabbed her hand, and tugged her into a large, cavernous room.

"Sirius, what the heck…?"

"Welcome, Khyana, to the Hogwarts kitchens," Sirius said, spreading his arms with a flourish, but not letting go of her hand.

"Merlin, Sirius," Khyana said quietly.

Sirius looked pleased at her reaction, and led her over to a large wooden table in the same position as the Gryffindor one in the Great Hall above, where he directed her to sit on one of the large wooden stools. She did so, noting that her feet didn't reach the ground, the stool was so high off the ground.

A house elf suddenly appeared, looking excited.

"Mr. Sirius Black! It has been too long, Mr. Sirius! What can Paloma get for Mr. Sirius Black and his friend?"

"Paloma, this is Miss Khyana Malfoy," Sirius said, grinning at Khyana.

"Paloma is most pleased that Mr. Sirius is bringing Miss Khyana Malfoy to meet Paloma! Is there anything Paloma can get Mr. Sirius and Miss Khyana Malfoy?"

"Um…what do you want, Yana?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know," Khyana replied indifferently. "You're the one who brought me here."

Sirius grinned. "Alright then, if you're going to be that way. We'll have some coffee, Paloma, please, and cookies."

"Right away, Mr. Sirius!"

Paloma hurried off and returned seconds later with a pot of hot coffee, two mugs, and a plate of cookies.

"If Mr. Sirius needs anything else, he needs only shout for Paloma, and she will come! Paloma is only too happy to help Mr. Sirius and Miss Khyana Malfoy."

Paloma hurried off, leaving Khyana and Sirius alone.

"Well, that's some service," Khyana remarked, smirking.

"Yeah, it's pretty impressive, isn't it?" Sirius agreed, biting into a cookie and grinning.

"Coffee, though? I'll be up all night if I drink coffee."

Sirius grinned mischievously. "It's all part of my evil scheme to seduce you, Miss Malfoy," he said.

Khyana laughed, poured herself a mug of coffee and took a sip. "Very well, Mr. Black, I suppose I won't be able to put up a fight, will I? You're just too strong for me."

"Indeed I am," Sirius replied, nodding and taking another bite of his cookie.

Khyana laughed again. "Sirius, eating that cookie just takes away from your dangerous façade, you know."

Sirius grinned like a little boy and happily took another bite of his cookie. "Thanks!"

Khyana shook her head and took another sip of coffee.

"So, why exactly did you bring me down here?" she asked finally.

"For some privacy," Sirius replied. "We hardly ever get to see each other-"

"You see me everyday, Sirius," Khyana countered.

"But not really!" Sirius protested.

Khyana shook her head again, a small smile on her face. "You're impossible, Sirius Black."

"Thank you."

A comfortable silence followed, in which both sipped their coffee in content.

"You know, Sirius, I just realised something."

"What's that?"

"I don't really know that much about you."

Sirius looked thoughtful. "No, you don't really."

"I mean, I know you're the Black heir--well, you were--and that you're Andi's cousin, and that you're in Gryffindor and you're friends with James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew (although _why_ you're friends with Pettigrew, I'll never understand), and that you don't really care about marks or anything."

"Hm. Well, I think a game of twenty questions is appropriate," Sirius said.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Twenty questions," Sirius replied. "The Sirius Black way."

"If it's the Sirius Black way, I'm sure it's interesting, but I don't know what twenty questions is."

Sirius blinked. "Oh. Well, I won't bother to explain it to you the real way, just my way. Because it's totally different."

"Okay."

"Okay, so basically, you ask me a question about me, and then I ask you a question about you, and we each get twenty questions. Get it?"

"Yep."

"Great. You go first."

"Alright. There's something I've been wondering for a while."

"What's that?"

"Why do your friends call you Padfoot?"

"Because I'm an unregistered animagus, and I turn into a dog."

Khyana blinked, then grinned. "Good one, Sirius. No, really, why do they call you-Salazar, Sirius!"

Khyana's last outburst was very appropriate, though a little surprising, since Sirius had just proved himself to her, by turning into the dog he had claimed to be.

"Did you just say "Salazar", Khyana?" he asked, once he had changed back.

Khyana blushed slightly. "I guess it just slipped out."

Sirius didn't look convinced. "Why did you say it, Khyana?"

"Just drop it, okay, Sirius? You startled me, that's all. My family used to say "Salazar" all the time. You know, like Salazar Slytherin? I guess old habits die hard."

"I know who Salazar is, Khyana. I just never expected to hear you say it."

"Well, now you have. Can we move on?"

"Sure," Sirius shrugged. "My turn. Why did you break up with Cam?"

Khyana looked angry. "I don't really think-"

"Oh, I think it is my business, Khyana. I'm curious. I told you my deepest secret, the least you can do is tell me why you broke up with him. And then I'll tell you why I want to know so bad."

Khyana rolled her eyes. "I broke up with him because I never got to see him, and I sensed that he was ashamed to be seen with me, because I'm a Slytherin…and I don't know, I got the feeling that he never really liked me, I don't even know why he was going out with me."

"I do," Sirius replied, looking furious.

"Why?" Khyana asked, looking surprised.

"Because I told him that I liked you. I asked him to talk to you, get to know you a bit, so that I could at least sound a little intelligent when I talked to you. Next thing I know, the two of you are going out." He shrugged, but Khyana sensed that it wasn't as small a deal as he was making it out to be.

"Sirius, I'm sorry! I didn't know…" she said lamely.

Sirius shrugged again. "You wouldn't have cared if you had known. You hated me, remember?"

Khyana nodded, smiling. "I do remember."

"Your turn." Sirius said.

"Indeed. Hm…alright, Sirius, I have a good question for you. Why do you like me?"

Sirius looked taken aback, and sat up straighter, startled.

"What kind of question is that, Khyana?"

Khyana regarded him over the top of her mug. "I want to know, Sirius. I'm curious."

Sirius looked at her, and then sighed. "Alright. I like you because…well, because you're pretty, and you're smart, and you're funny and quick-witted…and you're crazy. And…I don't know. Is that enough reasons?"

Khyana grinned at him. "I suppose that's enough reasons."

"Good. Now it's my turn again. I'll be boring and turn your question back at you. Why do you like me?"

Khyana looked thoughtful for a moment, before replying. "I like you because you're funny, and quick-witted, and you're good-looking--don't go getting a big head--and you're smart, even if you don't use your smarts. And you make me relax…and I like you even more because you're the one that brought me back after Sara died. And I always have a good time with you, and I can joke around with you."

Sirius looked like he was trying not to smirk.

"What?" Khyana asked, confused.

"Nothing," Sirius replied, shaking his head.

"What?" Khyana repeated, more sternly.

"Nothing!" Sirius repeated.

Khyana slammed her mug on the table. "Sirius, what the hell are you grinning about?"

Sirius stood and moved so he was standing behind her.

"You make me smile, Yana."

"Why?"

"Because I think I love you."

Khyana stiffened. "Pardon?" she whispered, barely audible.

Siriusleaned over and placed a light kiss on the back of Khyana's neck, making her shiver.

"I said, I think I love you," he said quietly.

She spun around on her stool to face him, her eyes searching his face.

"Are you serious?"

Sirius' eyes glinted, but to her relief he didn't make a lame joke about his name.

"Oh yes, Sara Khyana. I wouldn't say so if I wasn't," he replied, and she believed him.

Unsure what to say in reply to that, she stood so she was just a few inches away. He swept her up in his arms, placing her on the table, and kissed her.

"Oh Merlin, I love you, Khyana." He said, his mouth never far from hers.

Khyana pulled away and smiled at him, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear, then moved in closer for another kiss, which Sirius was only too happy to oblige.

* * *

**A/N:** YES, I KNOW KELRIA! LONG TIME! BUT it's a long chapter, so you should be happy...although, you're not in it much...you will be in the next one, I promise. So yes, here is chapter 17...I hope you enjoy it, and R&R as always, people! 


	18. Chapter 18

_Okay, so this is a really good chapter, if I do say so myself. Kelria has a little confession to make...so I'm sure you'll all enjoy that. So yeah...HEY! Why the heck are you still reading this? Merlin! I'm telling you, some readers have NO SENSE! Get reading the chappie people! HEHE! Love y'all!_

**

* * *

Chapter 18: Confessions**

When Khyana finally returned to the dorm room, Kelria was relieved.

"Where the hell have you been, Khyana?" she demanded.

Khyana had a goofy look on her face when she looked at her.

"I've been with Sirius, Kel."

"I see. And you didn't stop to think that maybe you had a roommate who might be worrying about you?"

Khyana shrugged. "Why would you worry?"

Kelria shrugged. "I guess I thought that maybe one of the Death Eater kids had gotten you."

Khyana's smile disappeared. "You never have to worry about that, Kelria. That's not going to happen. I won't go like Sara did. I promise. I won't leave you alone here."

Kelria gave her a small smile. "Thank you, Khyana."

Kelria felt very uncomfortable. After a claim like that, Khyana deserved to know everything…all about her condition. So, Kelria built up her courage and opened her mouth.

"Khyana, I have something to tell you."

"Kel, you'll never guess what just happened," Khyana said at the same time.

Kelria sighed. "What just happened, Yana?"

"Sirius told me he loved me," Khyana giggled.

Kelria grinned. She was genuinely happy for her friend. "What did you do?"

Khyana looked confused. "I…uh, well, I kissed him."

"You didn't say it back?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Khyana sighed. "Well, I like him, I like him a lot! But love? I don't know that I love him, Kel."

Kelria nodded her understanding. "I understand. So, what are you going to do now?"

Khyana shrugged. "I dunno…we'll see what happens, I guess."

"That's it? You're just going to see what happens?"

"Yep."

Kelria laughed. "You're something else, Khyana Malfoy, you know that?"

* * *

The following Friday morning, Kelria noticed that Remus looked very pale--more so than usual.

"Remus, is something the matter?"

"Huh?" Remus looked at her, as though he had just come out of a trance. "What was that, Kelria?"

"I asked if something's wrong," Kelria repeated.

"Oh, no, nothing's wrong. Why?"

Kelria raised her eyebrows sceptically. "Maybe it's the fact that you're ignoring me. Or maybe it's the fact that you haven't taken a single note about the potion we're supposed to be making. Or _maybe_ it's the fact that you look like you're dead."

"I look like I'm dead?"

"In a matter of speaking, yeah. You're all white, like…a dead person."

Kelria shuddered. She had been about to say "like Sara when she died," but caught herself just in time. The _last_ thing she needed was for Khyana to overhear and go all moody on her.

"Oh," Remus said, unfazed. "I guess I'm just not feeling very well. Maybe I should go take a nap."

"You can't go take a nap, you're in the middle of a class!" Kelria argued.

Remus shrugged and raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Lupin?"

"I'm not feeling too good, sir. May I go lay down?"

Slughorn looked genuinely concerned.

"Certainly, Mr. Lupin."

Remus shot an amazed Kelria a smirk, kissed her lightly on the cheek, and left the classroom, leaving Kelria confused. What had just happened?

* * *

After class, Kelria was angered to find that Remus was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't in any of his afternoon classes, either, which made her worry. She sought out Sirius for some answers.

"Sirius."

"Kelria. What can I do for you?"

"Where's Remus?"

Sirius looked up from his plate of food to give her a strange look. "How should I know?"

"He's _your_ best mate, in case you'd forgotten."

"Well yes, but he's _your_ boyfriend. Shouldn't you know where he is?"

"Do you know where Yana is?"

"That is another matter entirely, Miss Song. Guys don't notice stuff like that."

"So I can tell Yana that you don't care if she goes missing?"

"Wha…no!" Sirius spluttered. "Of course not!"

"So you do care."

"Of course I care!"

"But you don't know where she is right now?"

"Not…exactly…no, okay I don't. What's your point?"

"That I don't need to know where Remus is every second of the day, either. However, since you two are in the same house, have all the same classes together, and are best mates, you should know where he is. Aha!" she exclaimed, as Sirius assumed a guilty expression, only for an instant. "You _do_ know where he is!"

"I do, but I can't tell you." Sirius said, looking acutely uncomfortable.

"Why not?"

"Because…because I just can't, okay?!"

Angrily, Sirius stood up and left the table, leaving Kelria feeling confused and angry. What was so important that Remus felt the need to keep it from her? Didn't he trust her?

She immediately felt guilty. She had a secret from him, too…one she would definitely have to tell him as soon as possible…but not right now. She would wait for the perfect time to tell him…when that would be, she didn't know.

* * *

As Khyana and Kelria were leaving the Great Hall, Kelria thought she saw a shadow flitting between the statues in the Entrance Hall, and wondered what was going on.

"Do you see that, Yana?"

"See what?"

"That shadow, in with the statues."

Khyana strained her eyes, even took off her glasses (though that did more harm than good), then announced, "I see nothing. I think you're just paranoid, Kelria."

Kelria shrugged. "I guess you're right." But she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something she was missing.

* * *

That night, Kelria had a horrible time falling asleep. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong, and that she needed to be somewhere else. Curse this problem…

"Khyana!" she hissed loudly. Khyana didn't respond. "Yana!" she hissed, louder this time, leaning over so she was right above Khyana's face.

Khyana groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers over her head.

"Khyana, I think we need to be outside!" Kelria said, in a stage whisper.

"Five more minutes, Kel, the other girls won't be up yet," Khyana groaned.

Kelria looked around the room, and her eyes fell on her pillow. She grabbed it and whacked Khyana in the face with it.

_That_ got Khyana's attention. She sat straight up, and grabbed her wand off the nightstand.

"Yana, it's just me. I have this weird feeling that we need to be outside."

"Why?"

"I'll explain later," she said. "There's no time now. We have to go. I think Remus is in trouble."

That got Khyana moving. "Why didn't you say so?"

"I tried, you just rolled over and went back to sleep!" Kelria said.

"Whatever, let's go."

They both pulled on their winter cloaks and uniform pants, and hurried out of the dorm room, wands clutched tightly in their hands.

When they got out into the grounds, they looked around wildly, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Khyana turned to Kelria.

"Are you _sure_ this is where we're supposed to be?" she asked.

"Positive. Well, maybe not in this exact spot, but we're supposed to be out here…somewhere."

"Well, maybe you could use whatever power it is that made you get here to figure out where we're supposed to be."

"It's not like that, Khyana! I can't just use it like that…and it's not a power, anyway."

Khyana raised one eyebrow. "Whatever you say, Kelria. So, are we going to save the world or not?" she asked, starting to walk again.

Kelria laughed. "We're not saving the world, Khyana. Just our boyfriends."

Khyana stopped and stared at her. "Boyfriends? Plural? Sirius is out there, too? You never said that! You just said Remus!"

"Oh, really?" Kelria asked. "Oops. Sorry. Yeah, Sirius is out there somewhere, too…and James, I think."

Khyana rolled her eyes. "You have _got_ to be kidding me! Lily's going to kill us if James gets hurt."

Kelria got an odd look on her face, then paled and pointed over Khyana's shoulder, toward the Dark Forest.

"Look out, Yana!"

Khyana turned around, and screamed. Charging towards her was a werewolf, looking ready and eager to kill.

"MOVE KHYANA!"

Khyana turned and ran, and heard a loud _thump_ behind her. She turned to look, and saw that a large black dog had tackled the werewolf and appeared to be struggling to hold him down.

"Sirius!"

"Khyana, get out of here!" James' voice screamed at her. "Kelria, move!"

Khyana looked at Kelria, who had not moved from her stricken position.

"KEL!"

Kelria stared at the werewolf, then looked at James.

"That's Remus, isn't it?" she said.

James nodded. "You need to move, Kelria. I don't think Remus would be able to forgive himself if you got hurt tonight."

Kelria nodded, and she and Khyana made their way quickly into the school.

"Is that Remus?" Khyana asked. She had been too far away to hear her question James.

Kelria nodded, still looking stricken. "I knew he was keeping something from me."

A phrase came to Khyana's head, unbidden. "_There's something he's keeping from me, I can feel it._" So, Remus was a werewolf, that's what he had kept from Laura…and with good reason. Laura would have totally flipped out if she'd ever found out.

A few moments later, Sirius entered the Entrance Hall, looking very much the worse for wear.

"Sirius!"

"Hush, Yana, I'm fine. I've had worse injuries from Remus. How are you, though? What the hell were you thinking?" Sirius said, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking concerned.

"I'm fine," Khyana replied, shaking slightly. "I didn't know what was going on, Kelria just said you guys were in trouble…"

Sirius pulled her close, then winced.

"You better let me look at those cuts," Khyana said, and the two of them moved over to the stairs to sit down.

Kelria stood off to the side, in the shadows. She felt nearly sick for putting Khyana in such danger…if she had known what she was getting herself into, she would never have taken Khyana with her…

"Kelria."

She turned at the sound of her name. Sirius was looking at her, looking oddly stern.

"Tomorrow, meet us in the hospital wing. We need to talk."

Kelria nodded. "Okay. We'll be there."

"Great. Now, you two go back to bed. I better go relieve Peter and James."

"Be careful, Sirius," Khyana said, being annoyingly worried.

"I'll be fine, Khyana, I've been doing this since before you've been dating."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Khyana asked, confused.

Sirius shrugged, grinning mischievously. "I just thought it sounded cool."

"Sounded dumb, more like," Khyana replied.

* * *

The next morning, Khyana and Kelria made their way to the hospital wing, where they met James, Sirius and Peter, who were all crowded around a bed, whose occupant was out of view of the two girls.

"Hey, ladies," James said, smiling at them both. "How was your night?"

Khyana rolled her eyes. "You're so lame, James."

James grinned, and Sirius looked like he was struggling to hide his own.

Kelria approached the bed, and saw that Remus was lying in it, looking much worse than any of the other boys. She gasped.

"What did you expect?" Peter asked. "He usually looks a lot worse than this. After you two left, though, he was a lot tamer than usual."

Remus gave Kelria an odd look. "I knew that you two were there, even before the others told me. What did you do?"

Kelria shrugged. "I didn't do anything."

"Khyana said you had a feeling that you needed to be outside…what does that mean?" Sirius asked.

Kelria grinned. "You sound like a psychiatrist, Sirius."

"Just answer the question, Kelria," James said.

Kelria took a deep breath. "Okay. It'll take a while, though, so just sit tight. Okay. So, my mother was a witch, and she fell in love with my dad when they were at school here, but they never got married. My mom got pregnant with me about four months after they were out of school, and found out two months later. Just after she found out, my father informed her that he's a vampire, and then walked out. My mom was, obviously, really upset, and she was going to give me up for adoption when I was born, but she didn't know if I would be a vampire too, or whatever, so she kept me, because she didn't want to make someone else deal with that. So, I grew up, and when I was about seven, I started having really bad seizures. So my mom took me to the hospital, and they did some tests and whatnot, and told her that I have some really rare disease that I can't even pronounce, or spell, that made me have the seizures, because…well, because I was fighting the disease, which actually makes me want to inflict serious harm on someone. I'm drawn to evil people when I have one of my fits, and if I don't take my medication, I forget things that I've done…I might kill someone, and not even know it. It makes me evil."

"But that doesn't explain what happened last night," Sirius countered.

"Yes, it does," Khyana replied. "She was drawn to Remus because werewolves are generally classified as evil. So, since her disease draws her to evil people, she was drawn to Remus."

"But how did she know the rest of us were there?" Sirius asked.

Khyana shrugged. "I don't know. Kel?"

Kelria shrugged too. "I don't even know. I just was. My disease acts in weird ways."

The other five looked at her and shrugged. "Alright."

Kelria stared at them. "That's it? Just alright? You're not going to flip out at me and kick me out and call me a freak?"

"Um, no. Why would we do that?" James asked.

"Because that's what everyone does. That's why I've had to switch schools so many times. Any time someone finds out about my problem, they freak out and I have to leave the school. People generally don't want their kids going to school with someone like me."

Khyana snorted.

"It's not funny, Khyana," James said sternly.

"Actually, if you think about it, it kind of it…I mean, who's going to care? Sirius and I don't really have parents who care about anything, Remus' parents aren't exactly going to object. And Peter and you, James, hang out with a werewolf once a month, and you're unregistered animagi. So really, Kel, you don't have to worry about it."

"How do you know we're unregistered animagi?" James asked, clearly surprised.

Khyana shrugged. "Elementary, my dear Potter. Sirius is, so you probably are too. I'm not stupid, you know. But I'm also not going to tell anyone, so you don't need to worry about that."

"Good." James said, clearly relieved.

"So, no one cares that Kelria's a, and I quote, "_freak_", and no one cares that Remus is a werewolf, so we're good to go!" Sirius said cheerfully.

"You forgot to say "unquote" after you finished your quote, Padfoot," Remus said.

"What?"

"Unquote. You need to say "unquote" when you finish a quote in a sentence."

Everyone else stared at Remus.

"Remus, you need to get your nose out of those books, mate," Sirius said, looking at him concernedly.

Remus shook his head. "Never mind."

* * *

**A/N:** _So, the moment we've all been waiting for. And now that everyone knows what Kelria's illness is, STOP BUGGING ME ABOUT IT, KEL! SO HA! Anyway, I hope you all liked that, it was pretty long...and I wrote it all in two days! So that's pretty impressive. And I realise that I skipped Valentine's Day, but that's because I think Valentine's Day is overrated…and so, therefore, so do Yana, Sirius, Kel and Remus. However, I have French and math projects due on Friday, and I have an anthropology project due on Monday, and I have chem homework that I need to do...SO chances are I won't update for a little bit...Just to let y'all know (hehe, y'all, Kel!) so yeah. R&R!_


	19. Chapter 19

_My poor, dear, confused readers. I have been informed that some things in this story are a little confusing, so I am going to clarify. Kelria and Remus are going out! They have been going out since the beginning of chapter 17! Or the end of chapter 16...whichever you prefer. Anyway, they are going out! Notice in chapter 18 how it says "our boyfriends" when Kel is talking about Sirius and Remus? Yeah. So that's that. _

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 19: A Letter**

March brought on a new onslaught of work, especially for the seventh years. Sirius, who had yet to hand in an assignment, was busy deciding which one he thought would be the easiest.

"Do the charms one," James told him. "It's not hard, and you can get Remus or Yana to help you with it."

"I think I'll take Yana's help," Sirius replied. "And I should ask her now…because she might tell me she'll think about it."

James laughed. "Isn't that what she did last time?"

"Yep," Sirius affirmed, leaving the dormitory with his book bag over his shoulder.

* * *

"So, I've been thinking." Khyana said suddenly.

"Uh oh. Did it hurt?" Lily asked teasingly.

"Oh well haha, Lily, you're so funny," Khyana said, making a face. "No, it didn't."

"Okay, good. We wouldn't want you hurting yourself."

"Oh shut up, Lily," Kelria said, "And let the woman talk."

"Thank you, Kel. As I say, I've been thinking. We've all been spending quite a bit of time with our respective boyfriends, would you agree?"

"I'll say," Alice agreed. "I mean, I like Frank and all, but I haven't spent good quality time with you three since…" she blushed furiously.

Khyana sighed exasperatedly. "Yes, yes, since Sara died. You're allowed to say her name, you know. I'm not going to die. So, we haven't spent good quality time together since Sara died, so I was thinking, we need to have a girls night. Just the four of us, no boys involved."

"That's a good idea!" Alice agreed.

"Yeah, it is. I mean, James is great, but sometimes you just need female companionship."

"Agreed. So, this Friday night, I say we ditch the guys and just hang out together."

Alice and Lily loudly voiced their enthusiasm for the idea for, as Lily pointed out, three of the guys ditched them every full moon to spend time together, and they deserved some quality "girl time."

"Kel?"

Kelria nodded. "Well…I don't know. I'll have to see…"

"Oh come on, Kelria! You see Remus every single bloody day! Merlin, you see him pretty much every night too!"

Kelria sighed. "Alright! Alright, I'll come!"

"Darn right you will," Khyana agreed. Alice and Lily hid smirks.

"Well, now that that's settled, I promised I'd meet Remus to work on the potions essay."

"Meet him where?"

"Here."

"Then why are you going somewhere?"

Kelria shrugged. "We're not going to sit with you three."

"Well thanks a lot, Kel, we love you too," Lily said teasingly. Kelria stuck out her tongue at her.

"Yana!"

Khyana rolled her eyes, as Sirius hurried up behind her.

"Yes, Sirius?"

"I need help with my charms essay!"

"I'm sure you do," Khyana replied, giving her girlfriends a "sorry, guys are losers" look, picking up her bag and following him over to another table.

Alice smiled. "Well. That went well."

"Yes, it did," Lily agreed. "We managed to keep them from killing each other, at any rate."

Alice laughed. "I don't think they would have killed each other, Lil."

Lily shrugged. "Khyana was looking pretty pissed off there for a second."

"Yeah, but she'll be okay. She's just being Khyana."

"Yeah, that's true."

* * *

Having convinced Khyana that he really did intent to hand this project in (on time), Sirius was able to sit back and look with a great deal of pride at the essay which now sat, completed, on the library table.

"I think this is the first assignment I've actually ever handed in," he said.

"Good for you," Khyana said, not looking up from her own essay.

"Thanks for helping me, Yana, I needed it."

"No, you didn't. You just wanted it."

"Yeah, that's true."

Khyana looked at him over her glasses, raising an eyebrow. "Get lost, Sirius, before I decide to hurt you."

Sirius grinned at her, kissed her lightly on the head (for which Khyana lashed out at him, missing), and hurried out of the room.

"What was that all about?" Kelria asked, coming over.

"What?"

"That smacking Sirius."

"I missed."

"I noticed. Why'd you want to hit him at all?"

Khyana shrugged. "Stress reliever. I spent so much time helping him with his essay (which he didn't even need help with) that I'm going to be up 'til midnight finishing my own!"

"You know it's not due until Friday, right?"

"Yes, but I've decided to get it done now, so I don't have to worry about it later."

Kelria laughed. "Good form, Yana."

Khyana shrugged. "I guess so."

* * *

The next morning, at breakfast, Kelria poked Khyana hard in the side. Khyana, who had been up 'til past midnight working on her essay, looked up blearily, glaring.

"What?"

"Ryker's here."

Khyana looked up, surprised, and saw that Kelria was indeed correct. Her great grey owl was flying toward her, a letter clutched tightly in his talons.

"Hey, Ryker, what have you got for me?" Khyana asked, attempting to pull the letter from the talons.

Ryker gave Khyana a contemptuous look, which she returned.

"Yes, Ryker, I know! You can't talk back. Now give…me…my…letter!"

The bird finally let the letter go, flying upward, causing Khyana, who had been tugging none too gently, to fly backwards into Kelria.

"Sorry, Kel. Dumb bird. You're lucky I don't replace you!" she shouted at the bird, who hooted in reply and flew off.

Kelria hid her smirk. "Open the letter! Who's it from?"

Khyana examined the writing on the front of the envelope. "I don't know. I don't recognise the writing."

"I do," a voice behind her said. "That's from Andi."

Khyana shot Sirius her Slytherin Look Of Utter Contempt, and returned her attention to her letter.

"Why would Andi be writing to me?"

"I don't know. Open it and find out."

Khyana slit the seal cleanly, and pulled out the piece of parchment.

_Dear Khyana,_

_I'm sorry I haven't written to you sooner, I realise that it is now March, but I'm telling you, Nymphadora gives a whole new meaning to the term "Terrible Twos". She's so cute, though! You will have to come see her sometime._

_I suppose you're probably wondering why I'm writing to you (and you can tell Sirius, who is likely reading over your shoulder, to bugger off and mind his own business and let people read their mail in peace)…_

Khyana grinned, and turned around to address Sirius, who was looking upset.

"Andi says to bugger off, Sirius, and let me read my mail in peace."

"I can read, thanks," Sirius replied, returning to his own table.

…_and I can understand why you would think that. We weren't necessarily friends at school, but I always considered you to be a kindred spirit, Khyana, and when I heard that you had run away from home, I knew I was not far wrong. I am writing to warn you, Khyana. I heard from Ted and through the media about Sara's murder over the Christmas holidays (Merry Christmas, by the way), and I was torn! I can only imagine what that must be like for you, and I will not pretend to know what you're going through. But I am terribly sorry for your loss, Khyana, I'm sure you're sick of hearing people say that, but I truly am. _

_However, Sara's murder brings to light a whole new set of dangers. The Death Eaters are rampant, Khyana. I know. Bella is one of the worst, I'm told, and your brother is not far behind. I know this isn't really what you want to hear right now, but I thought it best to warn you. You're in great danger, Khyana. You and your new friend both, as well as Lily and Alice. I have heard whispers, and confirmations from Ted, that Lucius is in deep trouble with Voldemort for his failure to kill you at Christmas, and is most eager to fix the problem. So be very careful, Khyana!_

_On a lighter note, I have heard from sources that shall remain nameless that you and Sirius are seeing each other! Congratulations! I'm so happy for you; I knew it would happen at some point or another. You two shall have to come see us at some point this summer. I look forward to it!_

_Do not forget what I have said, Khyana. _

_Yours truly,_

_Andromeda Tonks_

Khyana looked up at Kelria as she finished the letter.

"What does it say?" Kelria asked.

Khyana shrugged, refolded the letter and placed it in her breast pocket. "Nothing I didn't already know."

Kelria nodded. "Alright."

* * *

Nothing more was said about Andi's letter, but it pricked at the back of Khyana's mind for the rest of the week, and by the time Friday night rolled around, she knew she had to talk to her friends about it.

"I have to tell you all something," she said when the girls had gathered together.

It had taken a while to find somewhere to meet, but they had eventually convinced Professor McGonagall to allow them the use of her classroom, like they had for Khyana's party. Her rules were the same.

"Okay, what?" Lily asked, opening a bag of sweets.

"I got a letter from Andi the other day, and it had some information in it that I think you all need to hear." She pulled the letter from her pocket, where she always kept it now. "It explains things that I had suspected, and now know for sure. Lucius is in big trouble with Voldemort for allowing me to escape at Christmas, and he wants to rectify that. So he's starting searching for me again, this time with vengeance and purpose. And somehow, I don't think he's going to let me get away quite so easily again."

Lily, Kelria and Alice looked at her with worried expressions on their faces.

"What are you going to do?" Lily asked.

Khyana shrugged. "Keep living. Just because Lucius wants to kill me is no reason to go into hiding or anything. I'm way smarter than Lucius, and I'm not going to get myself killed by him. But I thought I should tell you, because Andi also mentioned that you three are in danger. She didn't specify why or what kind, but I'm assuming it has something to do with Voldemort. So just be careful, okay?"

"For sure," Alice agreed, nodding. "We will."

Khyana sighed with relief. No one was going to touch her friends. She would make sure of that.

* * *

**A/N: **_So there you go. I hope you liked it...I sort of wrote it in between reading about female serial killers for my anthropology project...and cocaine for my French project. So because of my research, I have decided to put Bellatrix in in a few chapters...hopefully soon. Because she reminds me of a lot of these serial killers I've been reading about...they're really creepy, by the way. But I'm sure you'll be happy about Bella being in it, Kel, I know you like her. And so do I. I'm thinking Kel and Yana will face her together, possibly with Sirius, since she's his cousin...I realised that I had kind of forgotten about Lily and Alice, so I put them back in this chapter, because for future stories I need to have them really good friends. Note the hesitancy with which Kelria agrees to ditch Remus, Kel? hint hint nudge nudge. But yesterday was still fun...and I'm SO going to kill your boyfriend! Or at least yell at him...loudly and with conviction...and it will likely be very lengthy, too. So yeah, I'm done._


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20: Illusion and Allusion**

Kelria was sitting in the library, working on an essay, when she heard a loud crash from behind her. She turned quickly, and saw Laura Masters standing there, looking down at what used to be her schoolbag, clutching her left forearm.

Kelria hurried over to help the other girl, but Laura glared at her.

"I don't need your help, Song," she spat.

Kelria straightened quickly, startled. "Excuse me?"

"I said I don't need your help. I can manage."

Kelria was shocked. She couldn't bring to mind anything she had ever done to Laura to make her so hostile.

When Laura had left, Remus appeared at Kelria's elbow.

"Ignore her," he said softly. "She's just angry."

"Why?"

Remus sighed. "She thinks Khyana told me that she was going to break up with me. I'd had a hunch for a while, so I wasn't entirely surprised when she came to me, but she thinks that Yana told me. So she's just angry with everyone who's friends with her."

Kelria snorted. "That's dumb."

"Yes, it is," he agreed. "But that's the way life goes sometimes."

* * *

For the first time she could remember, Khyana had taken refuge in the Slytherin common room. Her friends meant well, but sometimes Khyana just needed time to be alone, which is exactly what the Slytherin common room offered. Everyone there just ignored her generally, and if they didn't, they posed questions that Khyana could answer with one word. Yes, Quidditch practise would start next month. No, she didn't need an extra Beater. Yes, they could try out for the team next year, she wouldn't be there. Yes, she needed a new Keeper.

That last question caused her to stop and think. The glaring absence of Sara was felt often enough every day without adding Quidditch practise to the deal, where she would be missed even more. For the first time ever, Khyana was not looking forward to playing Quidditch.

And there was another thing that had been bothering her for quite some time. Sirius had said that he loved her, and she believed him. At first she hadn't been sure how to respond to him, but she had been thinking about it a lot lately, and had realised that she really couldn't imagine her life without Sirius. Did that mean she loved him? Possibly. Was she ready to marry him? Not yet. Not for a few years, probably.

Suddenly, even the common room was too crowded and stuffy. She needed to get out. She left her things on the table in the corner and left, going all the way outside before she realised she hadn't thought to bring a cloak. It was fairly chilly outside, but she didn't feel like going all the way back inside to grab it, so she just wrapped her arms around herself and kept walking.

"_But do thy worst to steal thyself away, For term of life thou art assured mine;  
And life no longer than thy love will stay, For it depends upon that love of thine._"

Khyana turned, startled, and smiled at Sirius, who came and wrapped her in a tight hug.

"That was…interesting," she said.

Sirius shrugged. "It's Shakespeare. Remus made us all memorise a sonnet in fourth year."

"Which one was that?"

Sirius shrugged again. "92, I think. Just the first part."

Khyana grinned wider. "What does it mean?"

Sirius laughed. "I don't know. The best I understand it, it means you can try to leave, but you're going to be mine forever, and I will only live as long as you love me, because my life depends upon your love."

Khyana grinned into Sirius' chest. "Mhm. And how many times have you used _that_ one on a girl?"

Sirius pulled away and looked at her seriously. "I've never said it to a girl before. You're the first."

Khyana smiled. "I love you, Sirius," she said suddenly.

Sirius looked startled. "Really?"

Khyana nodded. "I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it, Sirius."

Sirius grinned and pulled her close again, kissing the top of her head. "I love you, too," he replied.

"I know," she murmured against his chest. "I know."

* * *

Over the next three weeks, the amount of homework the seventh years were getting increased even more. The attacks by the Death Eaters increased as well, and Khyana was getting so depressed by it that she stopped taking the _Daily Prophet_. There were at least two a week now, and she knew her brother and Sirius' cousin were key in the attacks. Most of them were attacks on muggle-borns, or families of muggle-born students at Hogwarts.

After a certain attack on three separate families (all of whom were muggles who's children were in Gryffindor), Khyana, Alice and Kelria decided they needed to do something.

"Lily's getting really depressed about this," Alice said as the three friends sat in the library.

"Understandably," Kelria replied. "I would be too. In fact, I _am_ a little worried…"

"Why?"

Kelria shrugged. "Because my mom lives by herself, and I've been thinking a lot. The Death Eaters aren't just going to be going after muggle-borns forever. Lucius is angry with Yana, and I'm one of Yana's best friends, so he might try to hurt her through me. You know?"

Khyana's face was paler than usual by the end of this speech.

"Yana?" Alice said, looking concerned. "Are you okay?"

Khyana shook her head. "Do you think so, Kel? I hadn't even thought of that…what if Lucius tries to get at me through one of you guys…he's already done it with Sara, though unintentionally…"

Kelria and Alice exchanged looks. "Relax, Khyana. He hasn't done it yet, I'm sure it'll be fine. Stop worrying."

Khyana shoved her chair back and stood abruptly. "I gotta get out of here," she said, and left the library.

Kelria sighed. "I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay, Kel. She would have figured it out at some point anyway. Don't worry about it. She's just being Yana. She'll bounce back, don't worry."

Kelria, however, couldn't help thinking of Christmas, when Khyana had been depressed for over a month…she didn't think she would be able to deal with that again.

* * *

Khyana had, again, forgotten her cloak.

"This is becoming a habit," she muttered, annoyed.

She wandered toward the Dark Forest and sat at the edge, clearing a stump of the melting snow with her hand.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She stood and yelled, "who's there?"

There was no answer, but a figure stepped from the trees. She gasped and took a step back.

"What do you want?" she asked angrily.

The figure laughed softly. "You know what I want. The same thing I wanted four months ago."

Khyana smirked. "Kill me then. I'm not scared of you, Lucius."

"Maybe you should be," he replied, stepping closer. She stood her ground.

"Maybe I should be," she agreed. "But I'm not. Are you going to kill me or not, Lucius? I'm tired of waiting."

"You sound eager to die, traitor."

Khyana rolled her eyes. "Are you stalling, Lucius?"

"Hardly," Lucius sneered. "I'm merely curious."

"If you're waiting for me to get down on my knees and beg you not to kill me, you'll be waiting for a _very_ long time. I'll die before I serve your perverted master. So you can just kill me now."

Lucius looked furious. "How dare you speak of the Dark Lord that way?" He spat. "He could give you powers you've never even dreamed of!"

Khyana sneered. "I don't want the kind of powers he offers, Lucius. I'll fight your master and you until I die."

Lucius pulled out his wand with a shrug. "Well, I tried. Your fight against me and the Dark Lord will not be long, traitor."

Khyana sighed. "Just do it, Lucius."

"_Avada-_"

"Yana!"

Khyana and Lucius both turned, startled, to see Sirius running across the grounds. With a whispered, "this isn't over," Lucius turned and disappeared deeper into the forest.

"Khyana, what the hell?" Sirius said, looking at her strangely. "You're pale."

"I'm always pale," Khyana scoffed.

"Paler than usual," Sirius corrected. "Who was that?"

"Who was what?"

"The person you were just talking to."

Khyana shrugged. "No one important. Come on, supper will be soon."

Khyana walked past Sirius toward the school, and Sirius looked past her to the forest, trying (in vain) to see who she had been speaking with.

* * *

When Khyana and Sirius entered the Great Hall for dinner that night, the Gryffindor table (where Kelria and Khyana had started sitting) was unusually subdued.

"What's happened?" Khyana asked as the two approached.

Wordlessly, Kelria handed her a copy of the _Evening Prophet_. Khyana gave her a questioning look and opened the folded paper to see the front page. She gasped, and heard Sirius hiss in a breath behind her.

_MORE MUGGLE ATTACKS_, the headline screamed at them.

_The Evans family, of 4 Windemere Place, Little Whinging, was discovered murdered in their home this afternoon by a concerned neighbour. Mr and Mrs Evans, who have two daughters (Lily, a seventh-year at Hogwarts, and Petunia, who was out of the house at the time of the attack), were found in their home this afternoon, they apparently died of fright. Aurors Dawlish and Moody…_

Khyana looked up at Sirius, who looked grim.

"Where's Lily?"

Alice shrugged. "She ran out as soon as she saw the article, James went after her."

Khyana nodded, seething. So ended the illusion they had built that they were safe from this sort of thing.

* * *

_"You what?"_

_"I couldn't, Master, not with him there!"_

_An angry hiss. "Then you should have killed him too! I will have her on our side, or I will have her head, do you understand?"_

_"Yes, Master."_

_"If you disappoint me again, I will be forced to take more drastic measures."_

_"Yes, Master."_

_"As it is..._Crucio._"_

* * *

**A/N: **_Well, that was interesting! I kinda just made that up as I went...I needed to put the poem in, and Lily's parents being attacked...that part with Lucius was totally ad libbed, it just went down on the paper as it came to me. So, yeah. That's that. The next chapter...I haven't really decided what I'm going to do...I'll probably finish the story soon, and then I'll start the next one. I already have some ideas for it. OH! And what was with Laura, in the first bit? I liked that! I'm thinking Kel knows...don't say anything about it, though, Kel! You'll ruin it! Anyway, I think that's all I have to say! (L)_


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21: Surprise**

The next week was very difficult. Lily was constantly upset; the others could hardly talk to her for fear of setting off another round of tears.

James was becoming increasingly annoyed and concerned.

"She barely speaks to me anymore," he complained to Sirius. "And when she does, I have to watch what I say in reply, because it's likely to set her crying again."

"Well, you need to understand-" Sirius began.

"I understand!" James cried. "She's upset that her family was murdered, and she feels that it's her fault because if it wasn't for her, Voldemort would never have heard of her family! But it's not really her fault! I mean, sure, Voldemort would never have heard of her family, but he might have killed them anyway, just for the hell of it!"

"We'll never know, will we?" Sirius asked, serious for once.

James sighed. "No, I suppose we won't."

* * *

"Hey, Yana?"

"Yes?"

"I've been thinking."

"Oh no. Do I even want to hear?"

Kelria smirked. "You're so funny, Yana."

"I know. What have you been thinking about?"

"I don't know that I want to tell you now that you mocked me."

"Okay, whatever."

Kelria sighed angrily. "You're supposed to ask me about it!"

Khyana shrugged. "I'm not going to beg you, Kel. I really don't care. If it was important, you'd tell me."

"It _is_ important!"

"Then tell me!" Khyana said exasperatedly.

"Okay. Well, I've been thinking. Lily's parents are the second ones to be killed that are close to us, right?"

"Well, I don't know that that's the proper grammar, but I think I get the idea."

"Okay. So I'm thinking we need to do something about it."

"That's why I'm going to be an auror, Kel. To do something about it."

Kelria sighed. "I mean _now_, Yana. We need to do something about it _now_! I'm going to be an auror too, but-"

"Wait, hang on. You decided for sure?"

Kelria nodded. "After what happened to Lily's parents I decided it's the best place for me to be."

"Way to go, Kel, I'm happy for you!" Khyana said happily.

"Thanks. So anyway, as I was saying, I'm thinking we need to do something about this now."

"You were, eh? What exactly did you have in mind?"

Kelria shrugged. "I don't know. Your brother is at the top of my hit list, though. And whoever did this to Lily's parents."

"It was Bellatrix," Khyana said confidently.

"Excuse me? Who?"

Khyana sighed. "Sirius' cousin, Bellatrix. She's the one who did that to Lily's parents."

"How do you know?"

Khyana shrugged. "I just do."

Kelria raised her eyebrows sceptically. "Alright…"

"So, you want to kill Lucius and Bellatrix. How do you expect to go about doing that? You're still in school."

Kelria shrugged. "I don't know. I'll think of something."

* * *

Khyana sought Lily out in the library on Wednesday morning.

"We need to talk, Lil," she said.

"Later, Yana, okay?" Lily said, her voice soft and sad.

"No, now." Khyana said firmly, forcing Lily into a chair.

"Yana!"

"Listen to me, Lily. I understand that you're upset about your parents. I get that. I felt the same way when Sara died. But you're worrying James, and the rest of us. We love you, Lily, and we hate to see you like this! And I didn't know your parents that well, but I'm sure they wouldn't want you to be mourning them like this. You'll never forget them, and that's good! But you need to keep living, Lily! It's not going to do anyone any good if you're moping all the time."

Lily glared at her. "You're one to talk! You moped for over a month after Sara died!"

Khyana nodded. "I know. That's why I can say this, because I know that it doesn't do any good! You're effort would be better put helping Kelria with her "Kill the Death Eaters" club."

Lily snorted. "Her what?"

Khyana rolled her eyes. "She has this idea that she's going to kill Lucius and Bellatrix Lestrange, for killing Sara and your parents…I call it her "kill the Death Eaters" club."

Lily smiled. "That works." Then her smile disappeared. "But…no one knows who killed my parents."

Khyana looked away. "It was the Death Eaters, Lil. We know that."

Lily shrugged. "Sure. Thanks, Yana. I guess you're right."

Khyana gave her a lopsided grin. "Damn straight I am."

* * *

"Sirius!"

A groan.

"Sirius!"

"Go away, James," he mumbled.

"It's not James. It's Yana."

"Merlin, Yana!" he cried, jumping up and covering his chest with his sheet.

Khyana rolled her eyes. "Oh grow up, Sirius. Come on, get up and get dressed."

"Why?"

"Just do as I say please, Sirius," she hissed, and moved on to the next bed. "James. James!"

"Wha-what?" James sat straight up, confused and disoriented.

"Get dressed."

"What? Why?"

Khyana rolled her eyes. "Stop asking questions. I'll explain everything when we're downstairs, I only want to have to explain this once."

She moved toward Remus' bed and rolled him out of it onto the floor. His eyes snapped open and he looked extremely surprised to see her there.

"Get up and get dressed, Remus, then all of you come downstairs." She looked over at Sirius and James, who were still gaping at her. "Why aren't you getting dressed?"

"Not with you here!" James cried, shocked.

Khyana rolled her eyes. "Oh, for Merlin's sake…you're worse than a bunch of girls!"

"We can't leave Peter," Remus said, once it became apparent that Khyana did indeed intend to leave him behind.

Khyana raised a brow. "You have got to be kidding me."

Remus shrugged. "It's a package deal, Yana."

"Fine, bring the rat, but I take no responsibility for my actions against him, whatever they may be."

With that, she left the boys to rouse Peter and get dressed.

When she reached the Gryffindor common room, she found Kelria already there with Lily and Alice, fully dressed.

"What's going on, Yana?" Lily asked.

Khyana shook her head. "Not yet. We need to wait for the boys."

"Yeah, what's taking them so long?" Kelria asked, getting annoyed.

"Have you ever tried to wake three sleeping seventeen-year-old boys? Apparently not. First they wouldn't wake up, and then they wouldn't get changed with me in the room, even though I really wasn't looking."

"Bet you're sorry about that one, eh, Yana?" Alice said teasingly.

Khyana shrugged. "Not really…if I really wanted to see them naked, it wouldn't be very difficult. Thankfully, I don't."

"Don't what?" Sirius asked as the four boys came down the stairs.

"I thought you said you only woke three of them," Kelria hissed.

"I did. Your boyfriend insisted they bring the rat, too."

"Of course. He would," Kelria replied. Khyana nodded.

"Okay, so what's this all about?" James asked, moving to stand behind Lily.

"And how the bloody hell did you two girls get in here?" Sirius added.

Khyana and Kelria grinned at each other.

"We got the password from Alice."

"What?" Alice exclaimed. "No you didn't."

"Yes, we did, actually. Yesterday, when you had to come up here to grab your Transfiguration book, we heard the password. Lucky for you that we did, too!"

"You still haven't told us what this is about," Peter pointed out.

Khyana glared at him, and Kelria decided to speak before Khyana made a comment.

"There are Death Eaters nearby."

No one bothered to ask her how she knew that. Lily and Alice had been informed of Kelria's "problem", and had taken it in stride. No one cared, just like no one cared that Remus was a werewolf.

"Where?" Sirius asked.

Kelria shrugged. "I don't know exactly. I think maybe Hogsmeade."

"And what exactly are you thinking?" James asked.

"That we go after them," Kelria answered.

"You're kidding, right, Kel?" Remus asked, looking worried.

"Nope," Kelria replied, shaking her head. "Not kidding."

The others exchanged looks.

"I don't know…" Lily said.

Kelria moved toward the portrait hole. "We have to hurry. Whoever's coming, come now, because I'm going."

Khyana immediately moved closer to the entrance to the common room, followed closely by Sirius, Remus and James.

"I don't know…" Alice said, echoing Lily's words.

"You don't have to come," Kelria said hurriedly. "We just thought we'd give you a chance. We didn't think you appreciate it much if we went off without telling you."

"No, that we wouldn't," Alice agreed. "Well, I guess I'll come. If I'm going to be an auror, I might as well get used to this kind of thing."

"I guess I'm in," Lily said.

"I'm coming too," Peter said, to Khyana's annoyance.

The large group made their way to one of the secret passageways that the guys knew about, almost getting caught by Filch once and having to hide. James hadn't thought his invisibility cloak would do much good, since there were so many of them, something everyone else agreed on, so they just had to be very careful.

They made their way to the passage behind the one-eyed witch, and carefully filed down into the corridor, being very quiet.

"Why would the Death Eaters be in Hogsmeade?" Sirius asked suddenly.

"How would we know?" Khyana snapped, the tension of the moment making her touchy.

"Excuse me," Sirius muttered.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Everyone was thinking the same thing Sirius had asked: what _were_ the Death Eaters doing in Hogsmeade?

* * *

**A/N:**_ Okay, there you go. Whew! wipes sweat from forehead Now, Shannon and Sam, stop bugging me about it! And for the record, I'm reading a REALLY SUPER AWESOME book series right now, and I'm sorry, but Karen Kingsbury (the author) and the Baxter family (characters in the book) take precedence over Sirius and Yana and Kel and Remus etc. So, when I've finished the book I have (second one in the second series) I'll probably work on it some more...until I get the last one in the first series. And then it'll be all about the books again...for about 24 hours, which is about how long it takes me to read one, as Sam knows...you know, those books I've been reading all week...it took me a week and a bit to read the whole series, only because I had to work a lot. I'll be finished this next one soon, and then I can't wait to get the other one...You should read them, Sam, they're amazing, you'd love them! (And anyone else who wants to read them, Karen Kingsbury is AMAZING!) Anyway, Sam, how did your project go today? I'm sure you had a blast. I read about the Baxters all day grins. Anyway, now I'm off...my brother is demanding my attention. So I'll talk to y'all later. _


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: **_Well, this took a while to get up, eh? Sorry bout that...been busy. But yeah, here it is!_

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 22: In Which Sirius Turns Purple**

When the eight friends reached the Honeydukes cellar, Kelria was the first one out the trapdoor, followed closely by Remus and the others.

"This way," she hissed, pointing up the stairs.

"Well, I would assume so," Remus replied, hiding his grin behind his hand. "That's the only way out of the cellar."

Kelria glared at him as the others laughed silently.

"Come on," Sirius said, suddenly serious. "We should get going."

"Exactly what I've been trying to tell you all!" Kelria huffed.

The others exchanged looks. "Whatever you say, Kel," Khyana replied.

They made their way silently up the stairs to the main part of the shop and out the front door. Sirius put a freezing charm on the bell above the door so they wouldn't be heard and quietly slipped onto the High Street.

Lily quietly slipped her hand into James'. He squeezed it lightly.

"Nervous?" he asked quietly.

"Terrified," Lily breathed in reply. He gave her hand another quick squeeze before following their friends up the High Street in the direction they heard sounds of a battle coming from.

When they reached the end of the street, they peered around the edge of a building until they saw a group of about six Death Eaters surrounding some villagers on the next street.

"Who all is there?" James breathed in Khyana's ear.

"I don't know," she replied. "But I'll bet my life that Lucius and Bellatrix are there. And probably Rodolphus Lestrange, and Avery, Nott and Travers."

"Travers?"

"Stone Travers."

"Is that his real name?"

"Yeah."

"I haven't heard of him."

"That's probably the idea. They don't want everyone to know about them."

"True, I guess."

"Especially you, since your dad's an auror."

"True."

"I know. Anyway, Travers is a moron, I hate him."

"Me too," Sirius agreed, coming over. "I'd like to kill him."

"That makes two of us," Khyana replied, looking back at the Death Eater group, hatred welling up in her chest.

"Why are they here, though?" Lily asked breathlessly.

"I don't know…" Sirius replied, squinting.

"Sirius, squinting at them isn't going to make you know why they're here.

Sirius glared at Khyana, who smiled.

"Who's that that they're surrounding?" Kelria asked suddenly. "They've attacked a couple people, but they seem awfully reluctant to attack that one guy."

Sirius, James, Remus and Khyana all squinted in the direction she was indicating.

"You're right. It looks like Brighton Kent." Khyana hissed.

"Who's Brighton Kent?"

"He's a brilliant potions maker. I read somewhere that he was working on a new potion lately, one that could…oh no."

"Oh no what?"

"I bet that's what they want! The Death Eaters are here for Kent's new potion! Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

Sirius let out an exasperated sigh. "Khyana. What is the potion?"

Khyana sighed. "It's a potion that can temporarily hinder a person's ability to perform magic. If the Death Eaters get their hands on that-"

"We know…oh no, oh no, oh no," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"Exactly," Khyana agreed.

"So, we'll just have to stop them from getting the potion."

"And how do you suggest we do that?"

"Isn't that what we came to do?"

"Well, yeah, I guess, but-"

"But nothing! Let's get moving!"

"Kelria!"

Remus grabbed the back of Kelria's robes, his face more stern than anyone had ever seen it.

"If you just rush out there without a plan, I swear I'll Stun you. We need to talk this over. What are we going to do?"

Khyana shrugged. "I say we go distract the Death Eaters, give Kent some time to get away."

"How?"

"Like this," Khyana replied, jumping out from behind the building.

"Khyana!"

"HEY!"

The Death Eaters turned and looked at her, and though she couldn't see their faces, she knew many of them were smirking. They didn't know her friends were there, they just saw an extremely stupid (the only time Remus ever agreed with a Death Eater would be on this point) young girl who was apparently trying to stop a whole host of Death Eaters alone.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the little blood-traitor," a loud voice said.

Khyana sneered. "Oh come _on_, Bellatrix. You can't come up with something more original? Well, no, considering it's you, I suppose you really can't…"

Bellatrix roared angrily, but a voice Khyana knew as well as her own said, "Leave it, Bella. We'll take her to the Dark Lord, along with Kent. He'll have his uses for her. _Stupefy_."

Khyana froze. She was a seventh year witch, studying to be an auror, and she couldn't even remember a simple shield charm!

"_Protego!_" A voice behind Khyana yelled, and a shield appeared in front of her.

She turned and smiled in relief at Sirius, whose face was nearly purple from rage.

Before the Death Eaters knew what was happening, six more people had appeared from behind the building and joined Khyana and Sirius.

"What the-?"

Before anyone had time to think, the Death Eaters had thrown three curses at different members of their group. Kelria stopped Travers' _Stupefy_ with another shield charm, James stopped Bellatrix's _Crucio_ from hitting Lily by jumping and shoving her out of the way, and when Alice screamed, Remus and Sirius both shot shield charms at her to prevent Lucius' confounding curse.

Khyana and Peter were the only ones who hadn't been involved in the spell-throwing, and Peter, scared out of his mind, scuttled back behind the building.

The Death Eaters did not look impressed. However, a gleeful shriek erupted from Bellatrix while Khyana was helping a furious Sirius to his feet.

Khyana spun around quickly to see what had made Bellatrix so happy, and what little colour she had in her face drained.

"What's wrong, Yan?" Sirius hissed.

"Lestrange, Avery junior, Snape and Nott junior," she sqeaked.

"What?"

"Rabastan, Caeld, Severus and Paul."

"What about them?"

"They just showed up."

Sirius' face turned even redder, if that was possible. "Of course they did. Look, Yana, get Kent and get out of here."

"But-"

"No buts," Sirius said angrily, glaring at her. "If you don't want to do that, you can go back up to the school."

Khyana opened her mouth to protest, but something about Sirius' expression stopped her in her tracks. He was really angry with her…she decided it would be best to obey him.

"Okay. Lily, Alice and I will get Kent. I'll leave Kel with you."

"Good. Kel has a more level head than you tonight apparently."

Khyana was going to say something, but Sirius turned his back on her and hurried toward the heat of the battle. Kelria was battling Bellatrix, and James was locked in an intense fight with Travers. Remus was on the ground, not moving, and Lily was backed into a corner looking terrified, while Lucius advanced on her. Snape, Avery and Nott had cornered Alice, and that's where Sirius ran to. Lily, all alone, didn't look like she'd last long.

In a split second, Khyana made a decision. She had to save Lily, she had to. Lily was one of her best friends, and if Sirius got angry with her over it, that would be better than having Lily dead.

She sprinted toward Lily, throwing random curses at those Death Eaters she passed, and finally got close enough to Stun Lucius, which she did. She heard Sirius vaguely in the distance screaming her name, but she didn't pay him any attention. There was a loud _thump_ behind her as a Death Eater fell to the ground, apparently Stunned by Sirius. She turned her attention back to Kent, who was standing stock still in the middle of the street.

She sprinted back toward him, followed closely by a terrified Lily, and yelled at him to get the hell out of the street before she hexed him into next year.

He looked surprised, but realised that she was there to help, and did as she asked.

"They'll be back," she yelled at his retreating back. "Get out of Hogsmeade, and hide somewhere! Somewhere good! Get yourself a secret keeper!"

She and Lily sprinted back to Honeydukes, down to the cellar and through the trapdoor.

"What do we do now?" Lily asked as they re-entered the school through the one-eyed witch statue.

Khyana shrugged. "I've made enough decisions for one night. You make one."

"We should go to Dumbledore."

Khyana shrugged, panting. "Alright."

Lily nodded and, deathly white, led the way to the Headmaster's office.

"I don't know the password," she said quietly as they approached the gargoyle.

"Licorice wand," Khyana said desperately.

The stone statue obligingly moved aside and the stairs behind it appeared, allowing Lily and Khyana to climb them at a run.

Khyana, who was more athletic and had no difficulty running up all the stairs and so reached the office door first, knocked loudly. There was no response.

"Professor!" she yelled loudly. "Professor, we need you now!"

The door opened slowly, revealing a completely unsurprised Professor Dumbledore, fully dressed and looking very stern.

"Miss Malfoy, Miss Evans."

"Professor, the others!" Lily gasped, finally reaching the door. "They're in trouble!"

"I am aware of their difficult situation, Miss Evans. Follow me, please, ladies."

Khyana was so relieved that the professor was going to help and that he wasn't absolutely furious with the two of them, and she was so exhausted and worn out from the terror of the evening that she never got the chance to follow the professor. She passed out on the office floor, and knew no more.

* * *

**A/N:**_So, you like? I personally liked it...unlike my job. I HATE MY JOB! My feet hurt:(. Oh yeah, Travers' name was originally going to be Jameson...can you guess why? (Hint: Think JT) but then I had a little talk with a certain British boy, and changed it. Anyway, now I have to go read some more about the Nuremburg trials for my French project (I know, Nuremburg's in Germany and has nothing to do with French, but it can be about anything, as long as we talk in French) so I'll talk to y'all later! Love y'allz! (I'll try to put 23 up soon, but I make no promises because I have to work and I have school and such other fun things, and FLORIDA!! YAY! Okay, so it's not for another 5 weeks...but I'm still excited! So yeah, now I really am done! hehe._


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23: A Surprising Turn Out**

"_She's been out for a while…what do you think happened?"_

"_I dunno. I'm tired. Can I go to bed?"_

"_No! Shut up. If you're going to complain-"_

"_I can leave?"_

"_No. I'll hex you."_

Khyana wasn't sure if she was dreaming or awake when the strains of her boyfriend's voice reached her. He sounded angry…but she wasn't sure if it was with her or with Peter, who seemed to be annoying Sirius. She didn't want to open her eyes and find out, either. However, prolonging the moment, she knew, would not make it better in the long run. Better to let Sirius blow up now, before he'd had more time to gather steam.

She moaned and fluttered her eyelids slightly, opening them slowly. There was a bright light right over her bed, and she moaned again and rolled over, covering her eyes to avoid the light.

"Yana?"

She peeked out between her fingers to see that the bright light she'd seen had been the sun, and that Sirius had stepped in front of the window so she wouldn't be bothered by it.

"Peter, get lost."

"But you just said-"

"Get. Lost."

Peter scurried out of the room; even Khyana was a little shaken by the look on Sirius' face. If it had been anyone else on the hospital bed, they probably would have told Sirius off for speaking so badly to Peter, but Khyana disliked Peter, and was inwardly smirking.

As soon as Peter was gone from view, Sirius rounded on her.

"What the hell were you thinking last night, eh? Do you want to die?"

Khyana knew better than to interrupt Sirius in the middle of a rant, so she remained silent.

"First off, running out in front of the Death Eaters like that was stupid. Especially since you obviously weren't prepared; how do you forget a _shield charm_, Khyana?! Charms is one of your best subjects! And a shield charm is one of the simplest ones! Merlin! And then when you ran back to get Lily, you clearly weren't paying much attention. It's a good thing I saw Rodolphus coming at you, because otherwise you would be dead right now! And then Rabastan, Avery and Nott tried to hex the two of you after you'd Stunned your brother, but Kelria stopped them…you need to pay better attention to your surroundings if you're going to be an auror, Khyana!"

Khyana had attempted to tune Sirius out, but it wasn't working very well. He seemed intent on keeping her attentions.

"Did you hear me, Khyana?"

"Yes, Sirius, I heard you."

"What did I say?"

Khyana glared at him. "You said I was an idiot last night. I get your point, okay? Just lay off."

Sirius looked out the window. "You really scared me, Yana."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I'd rather have you angry with me than have Lily dead," Khyana snapped.

Sirius sighed. "I suppose."

"What happened to the others?" Khyana asked. "Did Dumbledore get there in time?"

Sirius nodded. "Remus is just out of your line of vision, on another bed. He got hit pretty badly. Kelria did pretty well, but she's in the bed beside Remus. Alice is fine, I reached her in time, and Peter's fine too. Lily, of course, is fine. She's over with James, who's not doing so well. He's the worst of everyone. He got hit with an impediment jinx and a Stunner at the same time…Madam McKenna says he'll be alright, but he has to stay here for a few days."

"So Dumbledore got there okay?" Khyana repeated.

Sirius sighed, annoyed. "Yes, Khyana, he got there okay. All the Death Eaters disappeared when he got there. Well, all except one."

"Which one?"

"Travers. Kel killed him."

Khyana felt light-headed. "Kelria killed Stone?"

"Yes. I thought you didn't like him."

"I don't. But…Kalista won't be happy."

"Who's Kalista?"

"Stone's younger sister. We were really close when we were younger."

"But?"

"But then I ran away…oh, Kalista is going to be right pissed."

"Why do you care?"

"Because, Kalista married Menin Yaxley."

"Who's Menin Yaxley?"

Khyana sighed. "You've been out of the pureblood world that long? I thought you knew who Menin Yaxley was."

"Nope, not a clue. Fill me in."

"He's like Rodolphus and Bellatrix combined."

"Meaning?"

"Bellatrix's cunning, pride and hunger for power, and Rodolphus' thug-ish-ness."

"Uh oh."

"Yeah uh oh."

"OW!"

Khyana and Sirius exchanged confused looks. That sounded like Peter…

Peter was soon dragged into view by Professor Dumbledore, who looked stern.

"Good, Khyana you are awake. I have some words for the lot of you. Leslie, could you please remove the screens separating the beds?"

Sirius, Peter and Madam McKenna hurried to do as Professor Dumbledore asked, though Sirius and Peter looked worried.

"Thank you. Now, Leslie, will you please leave us alone? I have some things I need to say to my students."

Madam McKenna retreated to her office, and Dumbledore regarded all the students sternly. Sirius grabbed Khyana's hand, and squeezed it lightly.

"I'm not going to ask you how you got to Hogsmeade last night. Nor am I going to ask how you knew about the attack," he added, with a pointed look at Kelria, who had the grace to blush and hang her head. "However, what you did was extremely foolish. I am not going to expel you, as I know most of you are expecting me to do. You are almost done your schooling, and I have high expectations of all of you. I believe it would be a waste to expel you. However, if you attempt to do something this foolish ever again, I will be forced to take drastic measures. Do you understand?"

Everyone nodded, and "yes, sirs" could be heard from all around the room.

"Good. I hope your injuries will teach you to treat Death Eaters with more respect. They may be in the wrong, but they are a lot more powerful than any seventh year. Do you understand?"

"But sir, some of them _were_ seventh years," Khyana countered.

Dumbledore regarded her with curiousity. "Excuse me?"

"Snape, Lestrange, Nott and Avery were all there last night, sir," James explained. "They showed up shortly after we did."

Dumbledore looked troubled. "Thank you, James and Khyana. I will take this to heart. Now, those of you who are injured need to get some rest. The rest of you, get to class, please."

Sirius, Peter, Alice and Lily left the hospital wing with much grumbling and promises to come back at lunch. When they were gone, there was a loud silence in which the injured friends didn't dare look at each other. James broke the silence.

"Well. That was interesting."

"Indeed," Kelria agreed, unthinking. Something had been wrong with her brain ever since the night before, and she couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. She was thinking maybe she was in shock about killing Travers…

"I expected him to expel us for sure," James continued happily.

"Yes, James," Remus said, looking at Kelria with a worried look on his face.

"Stop looking at me like that, Remus," she snapped. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine-"

"I'm _fine_." Kelria repeated, her voice full of venom. Remus left her alone.

"So, what exactly happened last night after Lily and I left?" Khyana asked.

"Well, Sirius took out Nott, Snape and Avery…Remus was already out, and Kelria was struggling pretty bad-"

"I wasn't either! James is just so bloody stubborn he _had_ to come help me. Anyway, I was doing _fine_ before James decided to step in and help me. He distracted me, and Bellatrix hexed me. Then I was out-"

"And then Dumbledore and Lily showed up, and Lestrange hexed me before he left, and then they all disapparated."

Khyana raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"

"Yep."

"How did Kelria kill Travers then?"

Kelria sighed. "It was an accident, Yana. Can we please not talk about it?"

"Sorry."

Kelria rolled over onto her side, pulled the covers over her shoulders and pretended to be asleep. She really was fine. So she'd killed a Death Eater. She'd have to get used to it. She was just mad it wasn't Bellatrix or Lucius that she'd killed. But she knew Sirius and Khyana wanted those privileges.

She really did fall asleep very soon, tuning out the conversations of her friends. Khyana and Remus were talking about some potion they were supposed to be reading about, and James was interjecting every now and then with a stupid comment or question.

"She's asleep," Remus whispered.

Khyana sighed. "So, what happened with her and Travers?"

James answered. "Travers was the one who knocked Remus out. So, just before Bellatrix hexed her, Kelria shot a spell at Travers, I don't even know which one it was. She was really angry, though, and I think she put more power into the spell than she meant to, and it killed him."

"You don't know what spell it was?"

"No, I'd never heard it before."

"Do you think it could have been something she learned at Durmstrang?"

"That's the only plausible solution I can come up with," James agreed.

"Hm…" Khyana looked thoughtful.

"What do you think, Moony?" James asked.

Remus shrugged. "Haven't a clue. I was knocked out, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Sorry."

"Not a problem."

Just then, the bell rang signalling lunch, and Sirius, Alice, Lily and Peter arrived shortly after. The conversation between the three friends was put on hold.

* * *

**A/N:**_ Yes, I know...it took a while...but it's up now, so don't kill me! Yes...I don't have anything else to say...because now I'm off to watch the movie again Kel! Hehe talk to you tomorrow love you happy first anniversary hun! (Everyone say happy anniversary to Kel!)_


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24: Immaturity Points**

The Friday following what the Marauders were referring to as the "Brighton Kent Incident", the four girls had one of their rare "girl's night outs."

"We haven't had one in _ages_," Khyana said the day she and Kelria got out of the hospital wing. The four girls were sitting in the library doing a charms essay together, and the others couldn't disagree with Khyana's statement.

"Alright, Friday night it is," Alice had agreed.

So, the four of them were sitting in the Room of Requirement, eating sweets that Alice had nicked from the boys' room.

"Wow, Alice, I can't believe you actually stole something from the guys' room!"

Alice blushed slightly. "Yeah, well…don't tell them that."

Khyana laughed. "Of course not. Wouldn't dream of it."

"So, ladies, how have you been?" Lily asked, reaching for a chocolate frog and opening it.

"Pretty good."

"No boyfriend troubles to speak of?"

"Sirius is still pissed off at me."

"Yeah well, I would be too."

"Thanks, Kel, that makes me feel so much better."

"Well, what you did was stupid. You can't deny it."

"I didn't try to. But no one else was coming up with any good ideas. Someone had to do _something_."

"Yes, but not that."

"Alright, you two, let's change the topic," Lily said impatiently.

"Good idea," Alice agreed.

"To what?" Khyana asked, shoving a liquorice wand in her mouth.

"Ew, Khyana, that's gross," Lily squealed.

Khyana grinned, showing a mouth full of half-chewed liquorice.

Lily shivered and looked away. "You're disgusting, Khyana."

"Thank you!" Khyana laughed. "It comes with being Sirius Black's girlfriend, you know."

"Oh, I know. He is SO immature!" Lily exclaimed.

"You're one to talk, Lily Evans!" Khyana cried, getting her back up. "_You're_ going out with James Potter! Or had you forgotten?"

Lily blushed. "No, I hadn't forgotten."

"Khyana, you're awfully snappish tonight. What's up?" Alice asked, concerned.

Khyana sighed. "I dunno. I guess I'm just pissed cause Sirius is being stupid."

"I don't think he's being stupid," Kelria piped up.

"Shut up, Kelria," Khyana snapped. Kelria threw a Bertie Bott's Bean at her.

"Alright, alright, so we've got immature boyfriends. They're guys. What did you expect?"

"_I_ don't have an immature boyfriend," Kelria said snottily.

"Yes, we all know Remus is perfect, Kelria," Khyana snapped.

"Yana, that's enough," Lily said, suddenly sharp. "You wanted this night. If you're going to be snappy like this, I'm going to bed."

Khyana glared at her for a moment, but then realised that Lily was right and looked down at her lap. "Sorry," she muttered.

"That's better. Okay, so we all agree we have immature boyfriends. Except Kel," Alice added, as Kelria opened her mouth again.

"So what? We all agree. There's not exactly anything we can do about it." Khyana pointed out.

"Well, no I suppose not," Alice agreed, looking thoughtful as she grabbed a handful of Bertie Bott's Beans.

"Well…there may be…" Lily said, looking pensive.

Khyana raised an eyebrow. "Nice try, Lily."

"No, really. I mean, not to change them or anything, because I doubt that they would ever change…"

"I don't really _want_ Sirius to change, if truth be told," Khyana admitted. "I kind of like his immaturity…"

"Of course, that's all there is to Sirius Black, so if you didn't like that, you wouldn't like him," Alice pointed out.

"That's not true!" Khyana exclaimed. "Okay, people, this is not "Tear Sirius Black Apart" night, you know. I'm his girlfriend. That means I like him. So stop beating on him."

"Sorry," the other three girls said.

"I like Sirius, too," Lily admitted. "I mean, not the same way I like James, but he's funny, he makes me laugh."

"Yeah, same here," Alice admitted.

"Yeah…okay, fine, I'll give in to peer pressure!" Kelria cried. "I like Sirius too!"

Khyana awarded her friends a small smile. "Thanks, guys. Now, what were you saying, Lily?"

"Oh. Right. Well, I was just thinking…we can't really change the guys, but we could kind of let them know when they're being immature, you know what I mean?"

"Nope."

Lily sighed. "Okay. Um…how do I put this in Khyana-speak?"

"Use the smallest words you can think of," Alice replied. Khyana threw a chocolate frog at her.

Lily grinned. "Okay. We need to come up with a way to let the boys know when we think they're being immature."

"Like what?"

"I don't know…like a point system."

"Immaturity Points!"

Kelria, Lily and Alice all laughed, but agreed with Khyana.

"Exactly, Yana. Immaturity points."

"And whoever has the least at the end of a certain period will get a prize!"

"Well, Kel, you better come up with some good prizes. You know Remus will win."

"Yeah…I know."

"But how long is the period going to be?" Lily asked.

"Why don't we make it a week?" Alice suggested. "That way it doesn't drag out too long at a time, you know?"

"Yeah. And they won't feel like we're bringing up all their past mistakes all the time."

"Exactly."

"Excellent!" Kelria exclaimed. "So, when do we start with this point system?"

"Tomorrow," Lily suggested. "We can do the prizes and stuff on Saturdays, and start a new week off fresh."

"Sounds good to me," the other three girls agreed.

* * *

"WHAT?!?!"

Khyana sighed. Of course, Sirius would be the one to object.

The girls had just finished explaining the concept of immaturity points to the boys, and everyone had taken it relatively well, except Sirius, who was still angry at Khyana.

"Listen, Sirius-"

"Don't even bother, Khyana," he said, rising and stomping out of the library.

James shot Khyana an apologetic look. "Sorry. I'll go talk to him."

"No, don't bother. I need to do this."

"Alright, well, good luck."

"Thanks. I think I'm going to need it."

"Yeah, me too."

Khyana found Sirius on the seventh floor, in the alcove where she had come so many times before she'd started going out with him.

"Sirius?"

"Go away, Khyana."

"We need to talk."

"I don't want to talk right now."

Khyana sat resolutely on the floor in front of the alcove. "I'm not going anywhere until we talk, Sirius, like it or not."

Sirius sighed, but she could tell he was struggling not to smile. "What do you want, Khyana?"

"I know you're angry with me about Saturday night."

"And with good reason!"

"Would you please not interrupt me? As I was saying, I know you're angry, and yes, you have a good reason. But we need to talk it over! Because being all surly and silent on me isn't going to help the problem at all."

Sirius looked at her, then looked at his lap. "Yeah, I'm mad, Yana. You know why? Because Remus specifically said "don't do anything without a plan" and then you went and made a rash decision! You placed us all in danger! We had no plan, and without a plan, we were all on our own. You should have waited until we had at least formulated some sort of action plan, so we could be watching out for each other!"

"I know!" Khyana cried, looking on the brink of tears. "I know what I did was stupid! But no one was coming up with any ideas, and I was fine!"

"FINE?!" Sirius roared. "You were _not_ fine, Khyana Malfoy! You couldn't even remember a simple shield charm!"

"Don't yell at me!" Khyana yelled.

Sirius glared at her, breathing heavily. "You were not fine," he said, his voice low and dangerous.

"Okay, so maybe I wasn't fine," Khyana acceded. "But I would have been."

"When? When you were dead?"

"I wasn't going to die. Lucius just sent a Stunner at me-"

"_And he was going to take you to Voldemort after he'd Stunned you!_" Sirius yelled. "And then you would have _died_, Khyana! Because that's what Voldemort does to people who refuse to follow him! _He kills them_!"

"I _know_ what Voldemort does to people who won't follow him, Sirius," Khyana replied angrily. "My brother's a Death Eater, remember?"

"I remember. But do you? You think Voldemort will take it easy on you because Lucius is your brother? I doubt it." Sirius spat. "I don't want you to die, Khyana." He added sadly.

Khyana wasn't sure what to say in response to that.

When she didn't say anything, Sirius continued. "And these "Immaturity Points" of yours? Why can't you just like me for who I am? Why do you feel like you have to change me? To compare me to my friends?"

Khyana gaped at him. "That's not what this is about, Sirius."

"No? Then what is it about, Khyana?"

Khyana thought for a moment, but all the reasons she and her friends had come up with seemed hollow and false. Comparing the guys? That wasn't what they had been thinking of when they'd come up with the system, but now that she thought about it, that's exactly what it was!

"Exactly," Sirius replied. He stood and held out his arms to her. "I don't want to fight with you, Khyana. But last week, you scared me to death. I thought I was going to lose you. And then today, well, that was the last straw. I don't want to be compared to my friends."

"I'm sorry, Sirius," Khyana replied, staring at her lap and remaining on the floor. "I didn't mean to scare you. And I honestly hadn't thought of the points as a way of comparing you to your friends. Honest. We just thought it would be a fun way of letting you guys know when we thought you were being immature, and…" she trailed off. All the other reasons seemed lame and shallow.

Sirius chuckled softly. "It's okay, Khyana. I've forgiven you, okay? Now, are you going to leave me standing here looking like an idiot, or are you going to kiss me?"

Khyana laughed, then stood and stepped into Sirius' embrace.

He held her close for a few moments, then pulled away to look at her. "Don't you _ever_ scare me like that again, do you understand?" he asked, his voice soft.

Khyana nodded. "I won't."

"Good," Sirius said, then leaned in and kissed her passionately.

* * *

**A/N:**_ Okay, this chapter was supposed to focus on Kel...but I had to resolve the issues between Yana and Sirius, so next chapter, I promise, Kel! The next chapter might not be up for a while, cuz I'm going shopping in New York this weekend, and then Monday I have a performance (yahoo...NOT!) and Tuesday I have a math test (so I'll need to study on Monday) and in the evening, my sister has a concert, and Wednesday is my SUPER BUSY night...so possibly I will get to work on it on Thursday...unless I have to work. And then I'll have to work on Friday, and then I'm going away again Saturday til late Sunday night...and then I'll be free again...likely. So then I'll possibly have time to work on it. Til then, enjoy this one!_


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25: Dreamers**

Kelria had not been sleeping well. At all. Ever since the girls had told the boys about the immaturity points, she had been having strange dreams that she could never remember when she woke up. All she knew was that someone in the dream was trying to tell her something important.

This particular night, she had left the window open (much to Alexandra's annoyance), because it was such a warm night for late April. She went to sit on the window seat, and looked out at the lake, sparkling in the starlight.

"Beautiful," she whispered very quietly.

"What's beautiful?"

Kelria turned, startled, to see Khyana padding softly toward her from her bed on the other side of the room.

"The lake."

Khyana looked out over Kelria's shoulder, and gasped.

"That _is_ beautiful."

"What are you doing up?" Kelria asked, turning to face her friend.

Khyana shrugged. "I couldn't sleep. I've been having really weird dreams."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I don't remember them, all I know is that someone in the dream is trying to tell me something really important."

Kelria gave Khyana an odd look.

"I've been having the same type of dream."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I can't ever remember them when I wake up, but there's something familiar about the person in them."

"Yeah…I can't figure it out. Getting top marks in divination isn't even helping."

"You got top marks in divination?"

"Yup. I just made up a load of crap, and Sehen fell for it hook, line and sinker."

"Sehen?"

"The divination teacher. She's an old fraud, but whatever. The whole class is a load of dragon dung."

Kelria smirked. "Yeah, I agree."

"You took it?"

"Nope. I've always thought it was a load of dragon dung."

Khyana smiled and sat down on the window seat beside Kelria.

"You would have liked the class here. Sirius and James made it interesting."

"Sirius and James took divination?"

"Oh yeah."

Kelria laughed. "I can just picture it."

"No, you can't. Trust me. You can't picture it 'til you've seen it."

Kelria nodded. "I gotcha."

Khyana sighed and looked out at the lake. "These dreams are driving me bonkers, Kel."

"Me too. It's really annoying."

"Yeah."

The two girls sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, during which Khyana drifted off for a moment.

Suddenly, she sat up straight, causing Kelria to jump five feet.

"Merlin, Khyana, a little warning next time?" Kelria complained, rubbing the top of her head, which had hit the windowsill.

"Sorry. I guess I must have dozed off. But I know who is in the dreams, I just had another one!"

She had all Kelria's attention now. "Who is it?"

"It's Sara."

Kelria gaped at Khyana, but then realised that she was right.

"That's why she seemed so familiar!"

"Exactly. I still don't remember what she's trying to tell us, though."

"Me either," Kelria agreed. "This is really weird. Why are we both having these dreams about Sara? And what is so urgent that she feels she has to tell us?"

"I don't know," Khyana replied. "But I intend to find out."

* * *

Both girls had agreed to keep a dream diary after that night, to see if they could sense any sort of pattern, anything that would help them decipher what it was that Sara was trying to tell them.

"You seem quiet lately," Remus said offhandedly one day, while he and Kelria were sitting in a secluded corner of the library, doing homework.

"Do I? I hadn't noticed."

"Yes, you do. You and Yana both. What's going on?"

Kelria sighed. "Nothing really," she replied.

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Nothing?"

Kelria nodded. "Nothing."

Remus moved a little closer. "You can't hide something this big from me, Kel. Something's up."

Kelria shrugged, writing the next sentence of her essay, and trying not to notice how close Remus was sitting. "It's not really anything big, Remus. Honest."

Remus raised his eyebrows, and cupped her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"You can tell me, Kel. You can trust me."

Kelria nodded. "I know. This is just something Yana and I need to figure out on our own, okay?"

Remus nodded. "I'm here if you need me, okay?"

"Okay."

Kelria locked eyes with Remus, and then Remus leaned in and kissed her softly.

"I love you, Kelria."

"I love you too."

They kissed again, this time more passionately than before, and Kelria lost all sense of time and place…

* * *

The whole dream thing was starting to drive Khyana insane. Neither she nor Kelria could figure it out. She knew there was something _very_ important that Sara was trying to tell them, but she couldn't figure it out from the dreams (because she never remembered the dreams when she woke up), and she couldn't think of anything that was going on that Sara would want to warn them about. And besides, Sara was dead. Dead people don't just randomly start talking to friends who are still alive in dreams. And from what she could gather from talking to Alice and Lily, she and Kelria were the only ones having the dreams. So why would Sara want to talk to Kelria and not Alice or Lily? She had only known Kelria for four months, while she had known Alice and Lily for six years…it just didn't make any sense.

At any rate, Sirius and Remus were getting annoyed with the two of them, because they wouldn't tell what was going on, and the boyfriends both wanted to help…understandably, but the girls knew this was something they'd have to figure out for themselves. If Sara had wanted other people to know, she would have told other people. The message was meant for Kelria and Khyana only. And it was driving them bonkers.

* * *

The dream diary was blank.

"Merlin, Sara," Kelria muttered to herself. "If this message is so damn important, why can't either of us remember it when we wake up?"

Sitting in the Slytherin seventh year dorm by herself, Kelria threw her dream diary against the wall across the room, above Khyana's bed. She was getting really frustrated about the whole dream thing, and she just wanted to forget about it. But she knew Sara would never let her forget about it. She haunted even Kelria's daydreams, and her night time dreams were getting more and more frustrating and scary.

"Sara, you're lucky you're dead," she muttered. "Or I'd kill you."

* * *

**A/N:** _I know, I know, it's a little short...but the next one will be better and it will be longer, I promise. I've got big plans for it! You'll like it. At any rate, my feet hurt. I walked all the way to my piano teacher's house and when I got there I found out that her dog was having puppies, so the lesson was cancelled, and then I had to walk all the way home. I think I have blisters...I should probably also mention that I was wearing my heeled boots because my other ones are too small and I forgot my shoes at school...so yeah. That's that._


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26: One Less Thing**

Quidditch season had started again, much to Khyana's distress. It meant she needed to find herself a new Keeper, and the added stress was something she did not need.

"Exams are just around the bend, and I've not been feeling too good lately, and add the whole thing with Sara, and you've got one stressed out, cranky, annoyed witch," Khyana complained to Kelria on Thursday while they were working on an essay for McGonagall.

"I know what you mean," Kelria agreed. "Remus is the same way."

"Except that Remus isn't Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, and he doesn't have a dead best friend trying to tell him something important."

"No, but he is a werewolf."

"Yeah, but the full moon was two weeks ago. He's not even getting sick about it. I think I might have to go see Madam McKenna soon if this doesn't get better."

"Yeah," Kelria agreed absent-mindedly, focusing on her essay.

* * *

After a very long tryout, Khyana sighed heavily and called her team around her.

"Alright, team, what do you think?"

"I think Travers did okay," Donovan Higgs offered.

Khyana shuddered. She did not want a Travers on her team.

"Any other offers?" she asked.

"I think Rosier did pretty well," Kelria said, and the others nodded their agreement.

"Rosier? Yeah, he did do pretty well. You guys want Rosier?"

Kelria smiled. This was what made Khyana such a good Captain. She did what was best for the team in general, not just what she wanted. Kelria knew that Bryson Rosier and Mel Avery were dating, and that he was best friends with Cailean Yaxley and Braedan Nott. He would be a good addition to the team.

Everyone agreed that they all wanted Rosier to join the team, and Khyana left the huddle with a smile on her face to tell Rosier the good news.

Kelria's smile faded slightly. It was good to see Khyana in such a good mood, and it was good to know her friend had one less thing on her plate. But the thing with Sara was starting to get to both of them. Khyana had stopped even going to sleep lately, because it was getting so bad. She would sit up in her bed with the curtains drawn, reading a book or working on homework, forcing herself to stay awake. Kelria knew it couldn't be healthy.

Khyana returned to the group just then with Rosier, and everyone went over to congratulate him. In the midst of everything, though, Kelria noticed that Khyana didn't look very happy. In fact, she looked dead tired.

"I've got to do something about this," she muttered to herself.

* * *

That night, Kelria hid all of Khyana's books in her own suitcase, so Khyana would have nothing to read and nothing to study. Khyana threw a very juvenile temper tantrum and started going through everyone else's stuff to find her things.

"Whoever took my books is going to get hexed into next week!" she screamed.

Kelria, sitting on her bed reading a chapter from her charms textbook, paid her no mind.

"Kelria," Khyana said in a dangerously low voice, right next to Kelria's ear. "Open your trunk."

"No."

Khyana looked taken aback. "Excuse me?"

"Look, Khyana, not sleeping is not a good way to deal with this problem. Go to Madam McKenna and get a dreamless sleep potion, or make your own. You need to sleep. This isn't healthy."

Kelria looked up from her book and was shocked to see Khyana up close. Her eyes were bloodshot, and the bags under her eyes reached all the way to the bone under her eyes.

"Khyana!"

Khyana flushed and turned away. "Please give me my books, Kelria."

"No, Khyana. If you don't get some sleep tonight, I'm going to Madam McKenna tomorrow."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Watch me. You're my best friend, Khyana. I'm really surprised Sirius hasn't insisted you go see someone about it yet. No wonder you don't feel good!"

"Not sleeping has nothing to do with not feeling good, Kelria."

Kelria gaped at her. "Come on, Khyana, it doesn't take a specialist to know that when you're sick you need rest! That's basic healing! I've known that since I was really little!"

"Well bully for you," Khyana cried angrily. "I'm sorry my family doesn't teach 4-year-old girls how to heal!"

Kelria shook her head, deciding not to get into an argument. "Forget I said anything, Khyana. Go to sleep."

"I'm not going to sleep. I'll go to bed, but sleep is something I refuse to do."

"Fine. Whatever," Kelria snapped, putting down her book and turning out the light. As she was falling asleep, she looked out the window at the sky and whispered, "Sara, you need to leave Yana alone for a bit, okay? She's sick. She needs to get better, but she won't unless you leave her alone."

* * *

_The hallway was not an unfamiliar place. She had been here before, during previous trips. She knew what was waiting for her behind the door at the end, too…_

"_Master."_

"_Malfoy."_

_Her heart stopped. Malfoy? She had never yet seen Malfoy given an assignment. She had seen Bellatrix in this room, as well as Rookwood, Rosier and Lestrange. But never Malfoy. Her interest was peaked._

"_Black said you wanted to see me, sir."_

"_She is no longer a Black, Malfoy. She is a Lestrange. You will take pains to remember it."_

"_Yes, master, but there are already two Lestranges-"_

"_Silence! I did not call you here to discuss Bellatrix Lestrange. I brought you here to discuss your next mission."_

"_Yes, Master."_

"_That girl you killed at Christmas, the Wilkes one."_

"_Yes, Master, what about her?"_

"_She has been visiting your sister and her vampire friend in dreams."_

"_Master, that's not possible, she is-"_

"_Do not contradict me, Lucius. I know she is dead. Somehow she had found a way to communicate. I want you to capture your sister and her friend. I want you to find out how Wilkes is communicating with them."_

"_Yes, Master. But what if they do not know?"_

"_They know. And they will be expecting you."_

"_Master?"_

"_The vampire girl is here right now. Wilkes has been showing the two girls meetings I've been holding in private with my Death Eaters for weeks."_

"_But how, Master?"_

"_That is what you're to find out, Malfoy!"_

"_Why are all the missions successful then, Master?"_

"_Because, fool, I have placed a spell around this room so that anything that is heard in here by anyone other than me and the person I'm speaking to will forget it as soon as they leave."_

"_Ingenious, Master."_

"_I am not the most powerful wizard in the world for nothing, Malfoy. This operation would be nothing if I was not a genius."_

"_Yes, Master. I know."_

"_Get me the girls, Malfoy. And if you disappoint me, I will be most displeased."_

"_Yes, Master."_

_The room was fading. So that was why they could never remember the dreams when they woke up! Voldemort had sealed the room. It was never difficult to remember previous dreams in a dream, but as soon as the dream was over…_

Kelria woke in a cold sweat. Something important was going on…but what?

* * *

"Come on, you lot!" Khyana screamed at her team during Wednesday's practise. "The final for the Quidditch Cup is on Saturday, but you don't look ready for it!"

Kelria sighed and pulled up her broom. If Khyana wasn't her best friend, she'd probably hit a bludger "accidentally" in the Captain's direction. Quidditch wasn't fun when the Captain wasn't sleeping. She was even more cranky than usual, and the rain certainly wasn't helping.

"Come on, Cap, can't we take a break?" Yaxley whined.

Khyana gave Yaxley her "Slytherin Look of Utter Contempt", and he shut up pretty fast. She didn't let him off that easily, though.

"No, Yaxley, we can_not_ take a break. Do you think Potter lets _his_ team take a break just because it's raining? I doubt it!"

Yaxley rolled his eyes and swore loudly.

"Watch your language, Yaxley!" Khyana screamed, as she grabbed the quaffle from Mel Avery, who screamed her protest.

"I'm done for the day, Malfoy," she cried. "I'm tired and I'm sore and I'm hungry and I want to go in!"

"You sound like a three-year-old, Avery. You're not going in until I say you are!"

"Yana, you're not going to accomplish anything by screaming at her," Kelria yelled. "Let's go in, there's nothing more we can do until this clears!"

"And what if it doesn't clear, Kelria Song? What if we end up playing in this type of weather on Saturday, hm? We're not going to be ready because you lot are a bunch of whiners who think they're going to melt if they get a little wet! Come on, people, we're the Slytherin Quidditch team! We're not just going to give up because of a little rain! You want to beat Potter on Saturday, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Well then! Stop complaining and start flying!"

The team exchanged resigned looks and returned to their positions. The weather didn't improve, nor did the team's attitude, but their flying was better, and at the end of practise, Khyana told Kelria she thought they were ready for the game.

"Provided, that is, that Potter's team isn't better."

* * *

**A/N:**_ Okay, I lied. This isn't the chapter I expected to have up next. But there you go. I forgot I needed to have Keeper tryouts and stuff before I could put in the quidditch game...So yeah, there's this one. I am currently writing chapter 27...and 28 is done already. So you should have two more chappies in a bit. I think I'm going to go over my 30 chapter limit here...because I still have to put in final exams and whatnot...So maybe 35. And I've already started the next story in the series...the one about Kelria and Remus...but I still need a title for this one! So anyone who has ideas, let me know, k? Thanks, it's greatly appreciated!_


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27: Mora Menda**

Saturday dawned bright and clear, just the way Khyana liked it to be for the final Quidditch match of the season. She had actually slept the night before, having finally taken Kelria's advice and made herself a dreamless sleep potion, so she was even more tired than usual, and she was not happy. This was her last time, the last chance she had to win the Quidditch Cup. And she wasn't going to let it slip through her fingers.

The Slytherin team sat together at breakfast, as did the Gryffindor team. Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs could be seen going over to the Gryffindor table to wish the team luck. No one came to the Slytherin table, but that was the way they liked it. As a rule they didn't associate with anyone other than themselves, and this was no time to change that rule. They were quite content to cheer on their team on their own.

The team made their way down to the Quidditch pitch at 10:30. Khyana shut herself in her office and stared into the mirror for a full five minutes before looking away, disgusted.

"You are a horrible person, Khyana Malfoy," she muttered. "And you look sick."

She finally made her way out to the main change room to prep her team, but she couldn't even remember later what she'd said. She was so tired she thought she might fall asleep on the spot, and she was feeling sicker than usual today. Damn Sara.

Like a robot, she led her team out onto the pitch, not even realising what she was doing. In the same robotic fashion, she shook James' hand at Madam Elsen's indication, and then mounted her broom and took off.

As usual, she had her wand in the inside pocket of her robes in case she needed it for anything, and she knew James did also. However, she knew it wouldn't help her if she couldn't even fly properly.

* * *

"Is it just me, or does Khyana look a little off-beat?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, I was just thinking that," Remus agreed. "Kel mentioned something about her not sleeping too well lately. You know anything about that?"

Sirius shook his head. "No, I haven't. I have noticed lately that she hasn't looked too good. But when I asked her about it, she said she was just stressed about exams and stuff."

Remus shot Sirius a look. "Let me get this straight. Khyana Malfoy, who _crams_ for exams, is stressed in _May_ about them?"

Sirius shrugged. "Stranger things have happened. And anyhow, none of our previous exams have ever been this important. I mean, she has to get into auror school with these marks…so she's probably more stressed out than usual."

"Yeah, that's true," Remus agreed.

"Hey, guys?"

"Not now, Peter."

"You might want to watch this."

Remus and Sirius both turned their attention back to the game, and nearly fell out of the stands.

"What the heck is going on?" Sirius demanded.

"I dunno," Peter replied. "Long hit Higgs with a bludger, and Johnston was making eyes and snide comments at Malfoy, and the Slytherins got mad."

The commentary overrode Peter's small voice. "_Did you lot see that? Song appears to have started a hex war with Jeffries, but it doesn't appear that Emily-Hope has her wand! That can't be fair! And Potter appears to be having a little talking to with his Keeper. Malfoy is Potter's best friend's girlfriend, but I don't know that I'd stick up for a Slytherin girl even then. Anyway. What's this? Malfoy appears to have fallen off her broom and is heading for the ground! Professor, do something!_"

Exactly which professor that last comment was aimed at, no one ever found out, but at least three of them rose to their feet and pointed their wands at Khyana to slow her descent.

Professor Dumbledore then rushed onto the pitch, and Madam Elsen blew her whistle for a timeout. Both teams received penalty shots, but Sirius was hardly paying attention anymore.

"I have to go see her."

"No, Sirius, just let the professionals do their job. You'd just get in their way. You can see her after the match. She's fine," Remus replied.

Sirius grudgingly agreed, and got back into the spirit of the game. When James caught the snitch and won the game for Gryffindor, he was one of the first on his feet. He completely forgot about Khyana in the excitement of the win, and not until he was on the pitch, helping hold the winning team up, did he notice Kelria standing off alone, looking worried, and remember that his girlfriend had fallen off her broom for no apparent reason.

He forced his way out of the crowd and made his way over to Kelria.

"Hey, Kel. You guys played really well."

"No we didn't. After we lost Yana, we sucked."

"No, I'm serious, Kelria. You guys did really well."

"Thanks, Sirius. You don't have to say that just to be polite though, you know."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Take it how you will, it was an honest comment. Have you heard anything about Yana yet?"

"I haven't talked to anyone. I was waiting to go back up to the school, but I suppose all you lot are going to be partying in the common room tonight, am I right?"

"Likely," Sirius agreed. "But I'll walk back with you to the school."

"You don't have to, Sirius. Go celebrate, I'll look into Khyana."

"She's my girlfriend, Kelria. I'll come. I want to know what's going on."

"Alright, fine," Kelria relented with a smile. "Let's get going before this mob beats us. Then we'll get stuck behind them, and I don't think you want to be seen walking up to the school with a member of the Slytherin team."

Sirius grinned. "It's not that big a deal. I've been seen doing more than walking with the _Captain_ of the Slytherin team."

Kelria rolled her eyes. "I don't want to know."

The two of them walked up to the castle in comfortable silence, thinking their own thoughts, neither too worried about Khyana. Kelria knew she hadn't been sleeping well lately, and assumed she had just been so tired that she'd fallen off her broom. Sirius, having been told by Remus that Khyana hadn't been sleeping well, assumed the same thing. The fact that she had fallen after sending a Stunning spell at McCabe wasn't a big deal, especially because she had missed by more than three feet...

* * *

When the two friends reached the hospital wing, they stopped outside the door, listening to a heated, whispered discussion on the other side.

"Are you sure, Leslie?"

"I'm almost positive, Headmaster. I'll call in a specialist to do some tests, but I don't think they're really necessary. There's no other explanation for it."

"Has she been sick lately, do you know?"

"She hasn't been to see me, if that's what you're asking. You'll have to talk to Miss Song."

"Yes, I will do that."

Kelria looked at Sirius, who nodded and knocked on the door.

Professor Dumbledore answered the door with his usual smile, Madam McKenna standing a little behind him.

"Ah, Sirius, Kelria. Excellent, just the people I was going to go find. Miss Song, if you would please go with Madam McKenna, she has a couple questions for you."

"It's not a big deal, Headmaster, I can do it just as well here. Miss Song, has Miss Malfoy been feeling ill at all lately?"

Kelria nodded. "She hasn't been sleeping at all for the past few weeks, and she has been really sick. I kept telling her to make a potion, but she wouldn't."

"A potion for what?" Madam McKenna asked, looking concerned.

"Dreamless sleep."

"Has she been having bad dreams lately? Is that why she hasn't been sleeping?"

Kelria nodded.

Sirius looked from Madam McKenna to Professor Dumbledore. "Is something wrong with Khyana?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Normally we wouldn't tell friends this until we'd told the family, but, given the circumstances…"

"We _are_ her family," Kelria answered vehemently. "What's wrong with Yana?"

Dumbledore sighed again.

"Professor, what is wrong with my girlfriend?" Sirius demanded.

"Sirius," Kelria said in a warning voice, but Sirius paid her no mind.

"I want to know why she fell off her broom for no reason. Okay, sure she was tired she hasn't been sleeping well, but you don't think that's why she fell, do you?"

"No, we don't," Dumbledore agreed.

"Then what is it? What's wrong with her?"

Madam McKenna sighed. "Have you ever heard of Mora Menda, Mr Black?"

"No."

"It is a very rare hereditary disease, in no way contagious, that usually shows up around age 10 or 11. There are usually no symptoms, except enormous fatigue. A person with Mora Menda cannot do advanced spells of any sort without nearly passing out from the effort. Sometimes, in very advanced cases, they can do no spells at all."

Sirius gave her a blank look. "Why are you telling us this?"

"Because, Mr Black, that's why Miss Malfoy fell off her broom today after shooting a Stunning spell, and that's why she missed by so much. She has Mora Menda."

Sirius started laughing. "That's funny, Madam McKenna. No really, why are you telling us all this?"

"I think she's serious, Sirius," Kelria said in a small voice, giving Madam McKenna a frightened look.

"I'm afraid I'm very serious about it, Mr Black. Your girlfriend has Mora Menda. It is not a very advanced case, and it will not shorten her life in any way, as long as she takes the medications we prescribe. However, there is one very major drawback to this disease. She will not be able to become an auror."

"What?"

"Miss Malfoy will not be able to do advanced spells of any kind, so she will not be able to be an auror."

"This is ridiculous!" Sirius exclaimed. He threw the vase off the nearest table onto the floor and stormed out of the ward.

* * *

When Sirius returned to the common room, the party celebrating Gryffindor's win was in full swing, but he wasn't in the mood. The students were yelling and laughing and eating food that the marauders had smuggled in from Honeydukes the day before, but Sirius wanted nothing to do with any of it. Khyana couldn't be sick…

"Padfoot, mate!"

Sirius sighed. He had hoped to get up to the dormitory without anyone noticing him, but apparently James had other ideas.

"Come join the party, mate, you came just at the right time!"

"Listen, Prongs, I'm really not in the mood, okay? I just want to go to bed."

James gaped at him. "You what? Sirius Black doesn't want to join the party?"

Sirius shook his head. "You go ahead and have your fun. I'll see you later."

James stared after him, but Sirius paid him no mind. He hurried up the stairs to the dorm and climbed into bed without even bothering to change.

"It's all just a dream," he muttered. "Khyana's not really sick. It's just a dream…"

* * *

The next day, all of Gryffindor slept late except Sirius. He was up at the crack of dawn, aimlessly wandering the halls, trying to somehow convince himself that Khyana wasn't really sick, and that she just needed to catch up on her sleep.

By the time he returned to the common room, it was almost noon, and everyone else was already awake.

"Hey, mate, where you been?" James asked, looking concerned.

"Walking," Sirius muttered.

"We were just going down to visit Yana. Do you want to come?" Lily asked.

"Not really, but I guess," Sirius replied, turning around again and going through the portrait hole.

The six friends made their way down to the hospital wing together, everyone but Sirius reliving the game from the previous night. If anyone noticed Sirius' odd silence, they didn't comment on it.

"I'm never going to let Khyana live this down," James said with a huge grin.

Sirius winced but didn't say anything. Best to just let Madam McKenna explain everything.

When they reached the hospital wing, they saw Madam McKenna talking to a tall, blonde woman, who had their back to them. Madam McKenna noticed them, and indicated to the blonde woman that they had visitors. The blonde woman turned around, and Alice gasped.

"Leanne?"

"Hey, little sister, how are you?"

"I'm good, what are you doing here?"

"Yes, I'm good too, thank you for asking Alice."

"That's great. What are you doing here?"

"Apparently a girl here has Mora Menda. I'm supposed to do some tests."

"What's Mora Menda?" Lily asked.

"It's a really rare hereditary disease, that usually shows up around age 10 or 11. A person with Mora Menda can't generally do advanced spells of any sort without nearly passing out from the effort. Sometimes, in very advanced cases, they can do no spells at all." Alice explained. She then turned to the rest of the group. "My sister is a healer. She specialises in rare diseases, especially Mora Menda."

"That's sad," Lily said. "The disease, I mean."

"Yeah, it is," Alice agreed. She turned her attention back to her sister. "Who has it, Leanne?"

"Um…Khyana Malfoy, I believe."

There was a stunned silence.

"Are you joking?" Lily asked finally.

"No. Why?"

"Are you sure, Leanne?" Alice demanded.

"I'm very sure, Alice. Why?"

Alice blanched, and she and Lily both had to sit down.

"Oh, poor Yana!" Lily said quietly. "That must be why she fell off her broom yesterday."

"That's not even the worst news," Sirius said sadly. "She won't be able to be an auror, either, because she won't be able to do the advanced spells."

Another stunned silence met these words, and the group was very subdued for the rest of the day.

* * *

**A/N: **_Well, there you go. Had to add in a little excitement. I have the next chapter done too, so I'm going to go put that one up! R&R!_


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28: Coming to Terms**

Sirius stopped by the hospital wing after his last class on Wednesday to see if his girlfriend had woken up yet. He found Madam McKenna and Leanne have a whispered conversation near the door, and they both looked up when he walked in.

"Ah, Mr Black," Madam McKenna said, smiling slightly. "Good to see you."

Sirius was a little uncomfortable. "Yeah…you too?"

Leanne smiled. "Khyana's awake. You can go see her in a minute. But first, we'd like to ask you a favour."

Sirius looked from one woman to the other, confused. "Okay…?"

Madam McKenna looked at Leanne, and then back at Sirius. "We'd like you to tell Khyana about the Mora Menda."

Sirius gaped at the women. "You've got to be kidding."

Leanne hastened to explain. "We want her to understand that just because she has this illness, it doesn't mean people are going to stop loving her."

Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Alright, whatever."

"Great. Thanks, Sirius," Leanne said, flashing him a big smile.

"Whatever," Sirius said. "Can I see her now?"

"Sure."

Sirius made his way further into the hospital wing and saw Khyana, sitting up in her bed reading a book. He watched her for a moment, still trying to convince himself that she was sick. She didn't look sick…

She noticed him, and smiled widely.

"Hey!"

"Hey, baby. How are you feeling?"

"I'm great!" she replied. "I'll be out of here in a few hours, and we can just forget about this whole thing. You guys won the match, didn't you?"

"Yeah, we did," Sirius replied, ignoring the comment about her being okay. "Not by much though. Your team did really well."

"Oh well. I'm happy for you guys. Really."

"Thanks."

Khyana grinned at him, and he tried to smile back at her, but all he could think about was how sick she was. Her smile faded slightly.

"You're quiet. What's up?"

Sirius sighed. "I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"The best way to say this."

"Say what?"

"What I have to say."

"Just be blunt, Sirius."

"Okay." He took a deep breath. "Have you ever heard of Mora Menda?"

"Yeah, sure. Alice's sister did her thesis on it for school. My great-grandmother had it, too, I think…she died of it."

"That explains a lot," Sirius muttered.

"Huh?"

"Nothing, never mind. So you know about it? About what it does and stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Good, then I don't have to explain it all to you."

Khyana raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking me all this? Explain what?"

Sirius took another deep breath. "You wanted me to be blunt, Khyana, so this is it, as bluntly as I can put it. You're sick."

Khyana smiled at him. "Just because I fell off my broom does not mean I'm sick, Sirius. I'm fine, I've just been really tired lately. Like I said, I'll be out of here in a few hours, and this will all be a thing of the past."

Sirius was starting to get annoyed. "No. Khyana, listen to me. You're sick. You have Mora Menda. That's why you fell off your broom on Saturday."

Khyana's smile disappeared. "That's not funny, Sirius. I told you, I fell off my broom because I was exhausted, I haven't been sleeping well at all lately."

Sirius looked frustrated. "I'm not trying to be funny, Khyana! You're really sick!"

Leanne appeared around the curtain, sensing that this conversation was not going well.

"Hey, Yana."

"Hey Leanne. What are you doing here?"

Leanne shot Sirius a quick glance, and he gave her a relieved look.

"I'm here as a professional, Yana."

"Oh that's cool," Khyana said, not quite understanding. "Who's sick?"

Sirius pushed back his chair, his face red, and stormed out of the room. Khyana and Leanne watched him go. Khyana had a confused look on her face, and Leanne's was more a look of pity.

"What's with him?"

"You'll have to excuse him. He was even worse than you with the denial thing when he first found out, he's still processing everything."

"Everything what?" Khyana exclaimed, getting annoyed. "Will someone please explain what's going on here?"

Leanne sighed. "You really _do_ have Mora Menda, Khyana, that's why I was called in. It's one of my specialties, I guess. Madam McKenna suspected that that's what you had, and she called me in to do some final tests. I'm sorry, Khyana, but you're very sick."

Khyana gaped at the woman, tears forming in her eyes. "What?"

Sirius reappeared around the curtain again, looking surly. "Madam McKenna wouldn't let me leave."

"Is it true, Sirius?" Khyana whispered, pleading with her eyes. "Am I really as sick as all that?"

Sirius nodded, his heart softening at the tears in her eyes. "Yeah. You're really sick, Yana."

Khyana, being Malfoy born and raised, swallowed her tears and refused to let them show, but Sirius knew she was upset.

"You're not too bad along," Leanne said, trying to comfort her. "There is medication we can give you to keep you at this stage, to keep the disease from getting more advanced. You'll need to take the medicine, and then you'll be fine."

"Then why does everyone keep saying I'm so sick?" she demanded, and Sirius could hear the tears in her voice. He grabbed her hand.

Leanne sighed. "Because you are sick. We're going to have to do some tests and you're going to have to take this medicine probably for the rest of your life."

"Will I be able to have children?" Khyana asked, her voice very quiet.

"Yes, of course!" Leanne replied, nodding vigorously. "It will not affect your children."

"But the disease is hereditary…"

"And it's unlikely that any of your children or their children will get it. Your great-grandchildren may get it, but it may never show up again. It's a very unpredictable gene."

Khyana shot Sirius a helpless look, and he looked at Leanne.

"Can you two go?" Khyana asked very quietly. "I just want to be alone."

Leanne nodded, and she grabbed Sirius' arm and pulled away from Khyana's bed. "You've done all you can for her, Sirius. Now you just need to leave her be."

Before Sirius left the hospital wing, he looked back at the curtain surrounding his girlfriend's bed and saw her silhouette. She was doubled over on the bed, and he could hear her sobbing.

* * *

Khyana finally went to sleep, and when she woke up, she had convinced herself that everything that had happened was a dream. She didn't really have Mora Menda, and she was going to be fine.

To prove this to herself, she grabbed her wand off the bedside table, pointed it at the water glass and said, "_Auguamenti_."

The water glass immediately filled up, and she felt none of the exhaustion she had felt on the Quidditch pitch. She really was fine.

"Ah, good, you're awake," a voice said from beside the curtain. "How are you feeling?"

Khyana reached for her glasses on the bedside table, found them and put them on. She smiled at Professor Dumbledore.

"Hello, sir. I'm feeling much better, thanks. When am I allowed to leave?"

Dumbledore frowned, looking confused, and came to sit in the chair beside her bed. "Didn't they tell you you're sick, Khyana?"

Khyana scowled. So much for her illusion. "I'll take that as a "not for a long time"."

Dumbledore sighed. "Leanne has some final tests to do, and Madam McKenna is making up the potion for you right now. Once they both feel you're ready, you can leave."

Khyana flopped onto her stomach and turned her head so she was facing away from the professor.

"Khyana, we have to talk."

"What?" Khyana asked, her voice muffled by her pillow.

"Khyana, this disease is very serious. I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, but you know all the properties of the disease. You won't be able to do any advanced magic without getting extremely tired. I'm sorry, Khyana, but you're not going to be able to be an Auror."

This announcement left Khyana winded. Not be an Auror? No, that wasn't possible. She'd wanted to be an auror her whole school career. Dumbledore must be playing some kind of sick joke. She decided to confront him on it.

"Sir, I know from Leanne's research that this disease usually shows up around age 10 or 11. So how come it's just showing up in me now?"

Thankful that the professor couldn't see her, Khyana smirked. It was true, what she'd said, and she wanted to see how the professor would get out of this one. This question alone might be enough to prove her point.

She heard the professor sigh. "It's a very unpredictable gene, Khyana. It _usually_ shows up around age 10, but not always. In some people, it can show up as late as age 30. And from what I understand from Miss Song, I believe it was your lack of sleep that triggered the attack on Saturday."

Khyana scowled at the wall. Well, she had another question. "Sir, I just filled that water glass on the bedside table, and it worked fine. I'm not even a little bit tired from it."

She couldn't see Dumbledore, but she could still hear him. He picked up the water glass and took a sip. He immediately sprayed water all over her bed.

"Hey!"

"My apologies, Khyana, but taste this water."

Khyana rolled onto her other side and faced the professor. Then she tasted the water in the glass and immediately spit it back into the cup.

"Yuck!"

"Yes, yuck is right," Dumbledore agreed. "You see, Khyana? Even though you didn't get tired performing this spell, it didn't turn out correctly."

Khyana could feel the tears forming in her eyes again.

"This can't be happening," she muttered angrily. Dumbledore didn't say anything. "Why me, Professor?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I don't know, Khyana. I just know we need to accept the lot we're given and run with it. No one's life is going to be perfect. Be thankful they have medication you can take for it."

Khyana sighed. "Can you just leave me alone, Professor?"

"Certainly," he replied, standing to leave. "Your friends are worried about you, Khyana. They want to see you."

Khyana sighed and turned her back to the professor. "Tell them to come back tomorrow."

* * *

**A/N:**_ Well...that's that. Poor Yana...But don't you worry, I've got big plans for this girl. Hehe. The next chapter will be a while, prolly, because I'm going away for the weekend tonight...again. I hate work. That was random, but I really do. Especially annoying managers. Ugh. Anyway, I'll shut up now and go work on chapter 29. Maybe I'll get it up before I go tonight, since no one's on msn...OH! But I'm reading this book, called "The Black Donnellys"...it's good so far, it's about more mass murderers...yeah. Well, that's what you get when your writer is going to be a criminal lawyer...lots of criminal stories. So yeah, now I really will shut up. _


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29: In Which Someone Gets Yelled At**

Lily and Alice went to visit Khyana the morning after she woke up, before their classes.

"How are you doing, Khyana?" Lily asked, handing her a box of chocolate frogs and a bouquet of flowers they had picked from down by the lake.

"Well, considering I have a deadly disease, I suppose I'm doing alright," Khyana replied dryly, sitting up in her bed and leaning against the pillow propped behind her.

Alice and Lily exchanged uncomfortable looks, and there was an awkward silence.

"So…how are things in the big wide world?" Khyana asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Subdued," Lily replied. "I mean, exams are coming up and people are getting cranky and snippy…and Sirius is cranky and snippy even though he doesn't care about exams."

Khyana sighed. "Yeah…I'll have a talk with him. But did you bring me the work I've missed?"

Alice and Lily exchanged another look. "No…"

"Well why not? I'm better now, and exams are coming up! I can't fail these, I need them to get into Auror School."

Lily sighed. "Khyana, Dumbledore didn't want us to collect your things. You won't be writing your exams."

Khyana sat up straight. "What?"

Lily sighed again, and gave Khyana a helpless look. "You know you're not going to be able to become an auror, Khyana, not with your illness. Dumbledore knows this, and he doesn't want you hurting yourself trying to do your exams."

"What?!" Khyana jumped out of bed and glared at her friends. "Where's Dumbledore?"

"In his office, I expect, but-"

Khyana was off running before Alice could finish her sentence.

"Miss Malfoy, wha-?!" Madam McKenna called when she saw Khyana running past her office.

Khyana paid her no mind, and Madam McKenna never had any hope of catching her.

Khyana ran straight up to Dumbledore's office, barely breaking a sweat, gave the password and raced up the stairs. When she reached the top, she banged once loudly on the door, then pushed it open without waiting for a response.

"Ah, Miss Malfoy," Dumbledore said, smiling and rising from his chair. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

It was to Dumbledore's credit that his smile didn't falter when he saw the deadly look on Khyana's face.

"I just talked to Lily," Khyana said in a dangerously low voice. "She told me I'm not to be doing exams this year."

Dumbledore sighed. "That is correct."

Khyana's face was nearly transparent in her rage. "Now you listen to me, and you listen good, old man. I don't care what you say, I intend to finish my schooling here with a proper examination."

Dumbledore did not even look angry at Khyana's words, to her fury.

"You will not be able to complete the practical exam, Miss Malfoy."

"Watch me."

"You will not be marked any easier than the others."

"I better not be."

"If you really wish to do this, you will have to talk to Madam McKenna and Leanne."

"Leanne's gone."

"Then I suggest you owl her. I have no problem with you doing your exams, but you will need Madam McKenna's permission."

"Fine," Khyana spat. "I'll get her permission, just watch."

"I eagerly await the result," Dumbledore said with a grin. "Good luck, Miss Malfoy."

Khyana left the office, and walked slowly, her movements very controlled, back to the hospital wing.

"Madam McKenna," she said, knocking on the matron's office door.

"Well, Miss Malfoy, I see you have returned," Madam McKenna replied.

"Indeed. I wish to do my exams."

"Miss Malfoy, exams are not for another three weeks-"

"You know what I mean, Madam McKenna. Someone told Dumbledore I wouldn't be able to do them, but I want to."

Madam McKenna looked uncomfortable. "Miss Thompson is currently making a potion that should help you with your illness. If it is completed by the time your exams come around, you may perform."

Khyana smiled coldly. "Thank you."

* * *

The next three weeks were torture for just about everyone. The Slytherin common room was extremely quiet, and anyone not doing a major exam--first to fourth and sixth years--had learned not to bother the fifth and seventh years, unless they wanted to visit the hospital wing. Paul Nott had made that clear when he hexed a third year so badly he spent the next ten days in the hospital wing, and Nott spent the next ten days in detention.

According to Lily, the Gryffindor common room was much the same, except that people lost points for interrupting the studious fifth and seventh years, instead of being hexed.

Sirius was fed up with the whole thing, and told Khyana so angrily when they met in the library the Friday after Khyana was released from the hospital wing.

"Everyone's making such a big fuss about it, I don't know what the big deal is," he said contemptuously. "I've got through six years of exams without studying, I'm not about to start now."

Khyana sighed and looked down at her charms essay. "Sirius, you've never been this upset about exams before."

"How would you know? You would never give me the time of day before that day in the hall in December."

Khyana nodded. "Yes, but I still know. I do talk to Remus and Lily, you know. It's not the exams that are bothering you, is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're snippy and stressed and no one wants to be around you, Sirius. It's not like you. What's eating you?"

"What's eating me? Well, let's think. It couldn't _possibly_ be the fact that my girlfriend has a deadly disease, could it?"

Khyana sighed again. "I thought that might be it. Listen, Sirius, we're just going to have to learn to live with it. Leanne has a potion that I can take, and she says it's not going to affect the length of my life in any way. The only thing that's going to be different is that I'm not going to be able to do any complex spells unless I take my potion. And I'm okay with that, Sirius."

"You're okay with that?" Sirius asked, disbelievingly.

Khyana smiled. "Yes. I mean, it's not going to be fun, having to take this potion all the time, but there's not really much I can do about it. When I first found out I was angry, but I've learned in the past week that there's nothing I can do about it. I just have to accept it and learn to live."

Sirius gaped at her, and she laughed.

"Really, Sirius, it's fine." She leaned over and kissed him slowly. "I appreciate your concern, but I'm okay with it. For real."

* * *

The week before exams was stressful for everyone, including Sirius, who still claimed he didn't need to study.

Khyana had started taking the potion Leanne had concocted, and was feeling better than she had in a long time. She was really starting to feel ready for her examinations.

Kelria was happy that Khyana was feeling better, but was too stressed out about her exams (which she claimed five times a day she was going to fail) to be much company.

Remus was preparing for exams, but he was also starting to feel the effects of the moon, which would be full the night before the first N.E.W.T. He was not excited.

James couldn't care less, really, but was being forced to study by Lily, who claimed almost as often as Kelria that she "really doesn't know anything, and she's going to fail every one." Everyone had made their own sort of sign to tell both Lily and Kelria to shut up, they'd do fine.

Alice wasn't worried about her exams, really. She was thinking she might want to be an auror, but Frank had proposed to her the week before, and she was starting to think that maybe she would just stay home.

* * *

The day of exams finally arrived, and everyone met in the Great Hall at breakfast. Their first exam was Charms, and no one was really nervous except Remus (who wasn't really feeling up to scratch considering the previous night had been a full moon) and Khyana, who wasn't sure how well she would hold out on the practical.

Professor McGonagall finally told them to leave the Hall, it was going to be prepared for exams. Everyone left, and milled about in the Entrance Hall, waiting for the call to exams.

Finally, the doors to the Great Hall opened and Professor McGonagall came into the Entrance Hall.

N.E.W.T. exams had begun.

* * *

**A/N:** _I know, I know, cliffhanger ending. Well, Kelria, I'm famous for them, so don't yell too loudly. Anyway, I'm thinking I'm going to finish this off within about 2 chapters, and then I'll start posting the next one...provided people want to read them. So yeah, R&R!_


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30: Exams and Goodbyes**

The written part of the Charms exam went pretty well. Kelria managed to get all the questions except one ("What is the origin of the levitation charm?"), and overall thought she'd done very well.

She wasn't worried about the practical exam, either. Charms was her second best subject, and she knew she'd do well.

Of her group of friends, Sirius was the first called in to do his practical exam. Before he left, he took Khyana aside and talked to her about something Kelria couldn't hear, but it didn't matter. If it was that important, Khyana would tell her later.

They didn't see Sirius again, of course, and Lily was the next called in. She looked about ready to be sick, and James nearly had to drag her into the Hall.

Remus was next, and he went in looking a little green from his escapade the previous evening, but none the worse for wear otherwise. Kelria knew he'd be fine.

The next person to be called to do their practical was Khyana. Though no one said as much, everyone was a little worried about her. She said she was fine and that she would do just as well as any of the rest of them, but everyone knew the seriousness of her condition and didn't hold out much hope.

Time wore on, and soon there were only about thirty students left. Kelria and Alice were the only ones left from their group, and Kelria knew her name would be very soon.

"You nervous?" Alice asked.

"A little," Kelria replied truthfully. "You?"

Alice nodded. "Yeah."

"You'll do great," Kelria said, as Professor McGonagall returned to the room and said, "Song, Kelria."

"Good luck," Alice hissed.

Kelria shot her a quick smile then followed Professor McGonagall into the Great Hall.

* * *

When Khyana left the Charms practical exam, she was feeling very high-spirited. She had done very well, and the examiner had not even seemed to know that she was sick. It was nice to not be mollycoddled.

She avoided Sirius like the plague, knowing he would want to know if she'd kept her promise. To be truthful, she had…sort of. She had felt herself getting tired about halfway through the exam, and after that she was careful not to overdo it, just like she'd promised, but she still finished the exam.

She headed back to the Slytherin common room, psyching herself up to sit down and study some more for their exam the next day, potions. This was the one exam she was not looking forward to. She had missed four potions while she was sick, and no matter how well the others explained them to her, she could never get it quite as well as if she'd actually made them herself. She had never been much good at potions, and was not confident about the next day's exam at all.

About an hour later, Kelria burst into the common room, flushed and looking excited.

"I did it, Yana! I performed _perfectly_ on my practical!"

"Congratulations!" Khyana said, smiling, genuinely happy for her friend. "That's awesome, Kel."

Kelria grinned, nodding. "I'm so excited."

"That's great, I'm so happy for you."

"Yeah…hey, Sirius is looking for you."

"Is he? Well, I need to study right now, I'll see him tomorrow, I guess."

Kelria gave her a confused look. "Is everything okay between you two?"

Khyana nodded. "Oh yeah. I just kinda made a promise to him this morning that I think I broke…well, I think he'll think I broke it."

Kelria nodded, a totally lost and confused look on her face. "Right. Whatever you say."

Khyana sighed. "I promised him that if I started to get tired, I'd be really careful to not overdo it. I started to get tired about halfway through the exam, and after that I was really careful, but I still finished the exam, and I don't think he'll be happy."

Kelria nodded. "Okay, now I get it. Yeah, that sounds like Sirius. But I think he'll understand that you wanted to finish the exam, don't you?"

"Maybe. He's so unpredictable, I can't ever tell."

"Yeah, that's true. Oh well, I'll tell him you're too tired to come talk."

"NO! Don't tell him that! Then he'll think I really overdid it on the exam and I'll be in even more trouble! Just tell him I'm studying."

"Okay. Do you want me to bring you some supper?"

"Yes, please."

"Okay. See you in a bit. Have fun studying."

"Oh yeah. Great fun."

* * *

When Kelria reached the Great Hall, supper was already in full swing. It was a quiet, subdued affair, as some people were trying to study while eating, and not get food all over their notes at the same time. Lily was not finding this difficult, as she wasn't eating at all. Kelria walked over to the table just in time to hear the tail end of James' rant to her that "-you have to eat, you won't perform your best on your exams if you don't eat, Lily!"

Kelria smiled and sat down beside Remus, who put his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek.

"How did your exam go?" he asked quietly.

"Pretty well. I think I did alright."

"That's good."

"Hey, Kel, where's Yana?"

"She's in the common room studying. We have potions tomorrow, and you know how worried she is about that one."

"Yeah, I guess. She's never been much of a potions prodigy. How'd she do on her exam today?"

"Well, as far as I know she did well. That's what she told me."

"Did she give you anything to tell me?"

"Nope."

Sirius looked disappointed at this news and went back to his chicken.

"How is Khyana really?" Remus asked quietly, burying his face in Kelria's hair so Sirius wouldn't hear his question.

"She's good, I think. She's a bit tired from her exam, though," Kelria replied quietly. "She promised Sirius she'd stop if she got tired…but you know Yana."

"Yeah," Remus agreed.

"And she really _hasn't_ ever been a prodigy at potions, like Sirius said."

Remus grinned. "No, that she hasn't. But I'm sure she'll do just fine."

"As long as she takes that potion Leanne makes for her, she'll be just as good as normal."

"Too bad she won't be any better," Remus said teasingly.

"Indeed," Kelria agreed, laughing.

* * *

The next two weeks absolutely flew by. Exams kept everyone busy, and Khyana was the busiest of all of them. She had missed a lot of work when she had been sick, and she had more studying to do than anyone. She also knew that if she didn't do absolutely perfectly on these exams, her chances of getting into Auror School were slim at best.

However, at the end of the week, everyone was about ready to relax.

"Only one more exam to go," Sirius said the night before their final exam.

"Yep," Khyana agreed, yawning. "I'm tired."

"You look tired."

"Thanks."

"I'm glad we have Defence last," Lily commented. "It's a fun subject, and I think I'm actually going to do okay."

"Despite the fact that we've had a different teacher every year," Remus added.

"Yes, even despite that," Lily agreed. "I think tomorrow will be okay."

"I certainly hope so," Khyana replied, yawning again. "Okay, you lot, I'm sorry to break up the party, but I'm so tired I'm going to die. So I'm going to bed, I'll see you in the morning."

"'Night, Yana," Kelria said, smiling.

"'Night, Yana," everyone echoed, and Sirius kissed her lightly.

"Get a good night's sleep."

"I plan to."

* * *

Wednesday morning dawned bright and clear, which Khyana took to be an ill omen.

"I never liked sunny days on exam days," she commented.

"Why not?" Kelria asked.

"Because everyone always wants to be outside when it's sunny, and you really need to concentrate for exams."

"You're weird."

"Thank you. I take pride in my weirdness."

Kelria rolled her eyes, and Khyana laughed.

As predicted, DADA was the best exam thus far. They had had their practical earlier in the week, and the written one was the one they had left to do. Even Khyana was feeling confident about it, but that might just have been because DADA had always been her best subject.

The exam took over two hours to write. Professor McKean--this year's DADA teacher--supervised the exam with Professor McGonagall, and made everyone nervous. Khyana almost wrote down that the werewolves and vampires were constantly fighting because they _got along_, instead of _their races had always hated each other_, before she caught herself. Professor McKean had been standing right behind her.

Khyana had just handed in her paper (if it was wrong, there was nothing more she could do, so she'd just handed it in), when she heard a loud happy whoop from the back of the Hall.

"I'm _so_ done with school!"

Khyana hid her grin. That was Sirius for you.

Seconds later a second loud whoop joined the first.

"I am completely finished!"

Seconds later, Khyana found herself being lifted out of her seat and swung around in a circle. She laughed.

"We're done, Yana!" Sirius yelled.

Professor McGonagall, in a brave attempt to save the exam, said sternly, "Alright, you two, sit down, this is an examination. Mr. Black, please return Miss Malfoy to her seat, or-"

"You'll give us detention?"

"Take away points? Come on, Professor, it's the last day of school! You're not going to take away points. And admit it; you're going to miss us."

Professor McGonagall somehow managed to hide her grin until everyone was seated and quiet again, and then she turned her back and grinned widely. Yes, she certainly was going to miss this group.

* * *

Exams were over, bags were packed, and the Hogwarts Express was pulling into Hogsmeade station. The students were in the courtyard of the castle, saying their goodbyes and promising to write over the summer, and starting their countdowns until they would be back with their friends.

The group that was usually the loudest was the quietest this year. Sirius and James had other things on their minds this year than pulling last minute pranks, hard as it may be to believe.

They were standing in the courtyard, getting ready to leave in the carriages to board the train. James, standing hand-in-hand with Lily, looked restless, and Sirius looked excited.

Khyana was having an animated conversation with Kelria, Alice and Lily, and all four girls were standing with their boyfriends.

Finally, it was time to go. They couldn't put it off any longer. Sirius tugged on Khyana's hand, and the blonde followed sadly, looking behind her at the castle the whole time.

"Come on, Yana."

She sighed and climbed into the carriage. James and Lily were the only ones not in the carriage, but they didn't look like they were in much of a hurry to get in.

"They're going to miss the train," Kelria said quietly, as everyone crowded around the windows to watch the two.

Suddenly, James got down on one knee, and Lily put her hand to her mouth. Then Lily nodded, tears streaming down her face, and Kelria and Alice squealed in delight.

The two newly engaged friends entered the carriage finally, and Kelria and Alice attempted to hug Lily. The carriage was awfully cramped, and Khyana decided to wait until they reached the station to hug her friend.

Khyana looked beside her at Sirius, who was making a point of not looking at her. She squeezed his hand, and he looked at her finally. She smiled, and he smiled back, then went back to his conversation with Remus.

Khyana was not disappointed that James had proposed and Sirius had not. Some people would have thought she would be, but those are the people who don't know her very well. There were too many things that needed to be adjusted to in the coming months. Khyana had always thought that she would be off to Auror School in September, but apparently that wasn't going to be the case. She would have to find something else she could do, and it would take a while to adjust to the fact that she wouldn't be going there. Besides, Lily was definitely ready to settle down and be a wife and mother. Khyana wasn't, and nor was Sirius ready for that kind of commitment.

She sighed and leaned back against the seat. No, Sirius hadn't proposed to her, but that was perfectly alright. She was content, and ready to face whatever life had to give her next. She had great friends, and a great boyfriend. She had a deadly disease, but she could live with it. Her friends were with her, and she was content.

* * *

**A/N:**_ Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the END! I am _so_ done with this story! I have the next one started...so if you want me to, I will put it up...but you have to promise to read it! So yeah...I'll prolly put it up soon, but not right now. And I know I've left a lot of loose ends in this one...hence the second one! Hehe. So yeah...I'm going to shut up now._


End file.
